The Doors to the Mind
by G0nna6oF4rK1D
Summary: Clementine awakens in a unfamiliar place after being shot by Arvo. After making an escape, she finds herself in a world that seems so normal. Confused, Clementine tries to figure out what is truly real, while learning of extraordinary abilities, she never knew she had. Cowritten with Clemmyclue102 Rating may go up for future violence. Based off Stranger Things and Beyond Two Souls
1. Chapter 1

**_Clementine awakens in a unfamiliar place after being shot by Arvo._** ** _After making an escape, she finds herself in a world that seems so normal._** ** _Confused, Clementine tries to figure out what is truly real, while learning of extraordinary abilities, she never knew she had._**

 _ **This is a Co-Write between ClemmyClue102 and I. Hope you guys enjoy this story.**_

 ** _Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help._**

* * *

Clementine felt pain course through her body. It took a moment for her to realize what had happened. She had been shot! Arvo had shot her!

She took a few stumbles back. She looked to see a small sea of crimson quickly forming through her coat.

The world suddenly began to spin and darken. She felt herself began to fall. She heard her own body hit the ground with a thud.

Bonnie raced towards the young girl and Clementine could hear her desperately apologizing.

Clementine felt her breathing grew harsh, her eyes hazy.

She could hear Kenny's voice, shouting her name.

Then everything went black.

* * *

Clementine's eyes snapped open. She was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room.

She gasped in pain, trying to reach a hand to her shoulder, but found herself unable to.

She tried to force her small body into sitting position, but it was impossible.

She was restrained, strapped down to the bed. She quickly realized she was hooked to various machines. Some kind of headset was on her head. She was hooked to an IV as well.

She had no idea where she was, but the room looked similar to a hospital room.

Her clothes were different, but she could still feel the pain of the gunshot wound, and see blood seeping through the nightgown she was now wearing. Meaning whoever changed her clothes had not treated her wound.

The child started trying to break free from her restraints, ignoring the pain in her shoulder.

Her head was foggy, as if she'd been sleeping forever. She felt as if she had been drugged or something.

Clementine struggled more, biting at her restraints. She managed to loosen and free herself after several moments of struggle. Just as she freed herself and forced herself to sit up, the door opened.

Clementine froze, hand hovering over the IV needle in her arm, ready to yank it out.

A man entered the room, wearing a white lab coat.

"Well, well... Look who's awake." The man said, looking surprised.

Clementine glanced at the man with a confused look.

"You shouldn't be up yet, sweetie." The man said, walking over to the machines located across from her bed. He checked the machines for a moment. Clementine took the opportunity to yank the IV from her arm.

She heard the man let out a hum. "You are not supposed to be awake."

Clementine didn't say a word.

The man turned and started making his way toward her, "We'll take care of that right now."

Clementine's eyes fell on a syringe that the man was holding in his hand.

The girl tried to move back as the man got closer towards.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." The man said. "This is going to help you sleep."

Clementine's mind was yelling at her not to let the man get too close.

Once the man got close enough, he stopped for a moment. His eyes widened upon seeing the blood on her nightgown. "What the hell happened?"

The child knocked the needle from his hand. It fell a few feet away.

"Damn brat..." The man pinned her to the bed.

Clementine started struggling.

She managed to free one of her arms and used it to reach into the man's pocket. She felt a cold metallic object against her little hand.

The child yanked it from the man's pocket and she jabbed the scalpel deep into the juncture where his neck met his shoulder.

Blood spurted from the wound as the man yelled out.

He released her from his grip, bringing his to his neck trying to stop the bleed.

Clementine moved from the bed and made her way to the door. She didn't notice the injured man crawling towards a machine.

However, she did glance back, just as a sudden alarm began to blare out.

Clementine shuddered a bit. She was sure she had just killed that man.

She walked from the room without a glance back. As she heard the alarm ring loudly, she broke into a run. Her heart was pounding in her chest.

She could hear people running around, alerted by the sound of the alarm. She heard someone exclaim, "The girl's getting away!"  
She knew that girl was her.

Suddenly she saw two men, they spotted her and started chasing after the child.

Clementine sped up.

If there was anything worse than the walkers, it was people. People were capable of anything, and there was no telling what their intentions were.

She couldn't let them catch her. She would be done if that happened.

She ran blindly through the unknown building, several men's scream following her.

She tried her best to keep herself from sobbing.

Finally, she saw light and burst coming from a door, she ran through and was outside.

She tripped and one of the men caught up with her, before he could get too close the child yelled out, "STOP!"

He froze, his eyes nervously looking back and forth.

"What are you doing?" The second man yelled, "Grab her."

"I c-can't move." The first man said.

Clementine scrambled to her feet.

"She must've done something..." The second man said, realizing he couldn't take a step towards the girl either.

Clementine turned and ran off. She kept running, despite the pain throbbing in her shoulder.

She had no clue where she was, but that didn't stop her.

She ran block after block, until she felt that she was a safe distance away.

Clementine was losing blood fast and she was completely unfamiliar with her surrounds. She knew she had to be quiet, or she'd risk attracting walkers. She needed to find Kenny or Jane... They hadn't left her, had they?

How had she ended up in that place? What had happened? She had so many questions and no answers.

The child continued walking down an empty sidewalk. She was sure she was far enough away that those strangers wouldn't find her. She wondered what they had wanted with her in the first place.

Clementine swayed under a bout of sudden dizziness. She stumbled forward.

The girl quickly tried to regain her footing, but found each step becoming nothing more than a stumble. It wasn't long before she had lost her balance. She fell to the ground, having exhausted what little energy she had. And moments later, she had passed out.

* * *

When she woke up again her whole body was aching. The next morning had come, although by now it was late afternoon.

She wandered aimlessly around for hours. Sometimes she would pause for a while, having forgot what she was doing, but then she would remember and continue walking.

The girl was pulled out of her thoughts as a man approached her. He looked worried, "Little girl, are you okay? Do you need any help?"

"H-Help?" Clementine repeated. The first word she had said, all day.

"I can help you. You need to go to the hospital or something?"

Clementine frowned. Hospitals didn't exist anymore. Not since the walkers.

"You're bleeding." The man said. "What happened?"

Clementine didn't respond.

"Here..." The man reached out to grab her. "I'll help you-"

"NO!" Clementine shouted as his normal face shifted into the vicious features of a walker. "NO!"

The child turned a ran off, the man called after her, but the girl ignored him.

* * *

She spent the next few hours wandering the streets. Night had fallen and it was raining, hard.

Clementine was soaked with the rain water, but she kept walking. Her feet, which wear bare, were freezing cold, but she pushed on.

Her balance was shaky, and the girl tripped, falling into a mud puddle. The child stood, brushing mud off with a disgusted look on her face.

She continued walking, down the road. Each time she would stumble or trip, she would get up again and keep going.

The girl was unfazed by the sudden headlights shining in her direction. She watched as a truck approached, stopping just feet away from her.

The people seemed to be panicking.

She rubbed her eyes from the bright lights, but stayed put.

The truck door opened and a man got out, slowly approaching her. The child's eyes widened, her lips trembling as she spoke in a mumble, "K-Kenny?"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the grammar check.**_

* * *

A thirteen-year-old boy sat in the back seat, trying to zone out his parents arguing.

It had become a constant thing. Not much annoyed him, but this was starting to.

"Kenny, slow down." Katjaa said.

Kenny let out a sigh, "I'm driving the speed limit, Kat."

"I don't care. The weather is horrible. Slow down." Katjaa replied.

Kenny groaned, "I want to get to a hotel so I can get some rest, especially since you want me driving tomorrow too." "I didn't tell you stay at your sister's house for an extra four hours."

"We'll get to the hotel. It's not like you're losing any sleep. You're going to spend at least an hour watching TV anyway." Katjaa said.

"Watch the road!" The young boy called from the back seat.

"Holy shit!" Kenny hit the brake and pulled the truck to a stop just in time, only a few feet away from a child, who was standing in the street. "What the fuck is a kid doing out here alone this late?"

"Get her out of the road. People can't see her." Katjaa said.

Kenny nodded. He put the car in park and got out.

He walked up to the child. It was a little girl.

The girl was poorly dress, wearing nothing but a nightgown that was stained with blood. She was completely soaked from the rain.

The child looked up to him with a blank stare as he approached her.

"Hey, you okay?" The man asked the child.

There was no response from the girl.

"Darling... Are you hurt?"

Judging by the blood, she was, but he asked anyway.

Still nothing.

The man frown, cautiously approaching the girl.

"You need any help?" Kenny asked. He was now directly in front of the girl.

He knelt down to her level, catching the girl by her shoulders. Feeling the bones grind under his fingers, he loosened her grip a little so that he wouldn't break them.

"I'm going to help you, okay?" Kenny said. "You gotta talk to me..."

The child didn't snap out of her trance.

Kenny carefully pulled the little girl into his arms. He walked back towards his truck and opened the door to the back seat. He gently sat the girl beside his son.

"What's going on?" The boy asked.

Kenny didn't answer. He slammed the door shut causing the three passengers to flinch. He then got into the driver's side and started the car.

"What are you doing? Who's she?" Katjaa asked.

"I don't know. I'm gonna drive around the area and see if anyone is looking for her." Kenny said.

Katjaa's eyes widened, "What? We need to go to the police station.

"And be accused of kidnap? Hell no. I'm gonna drive around, if no one's here we'll take her to the hospital." Kenny replied.

"She's hurt?" Duck asked, looking to the girl.

"Kid's been shot or something." Kenny said.

Katjaa frowned, "Jesus, Kenny... We need to go to the hospital now."

Just listen to me. Her folks might be around here.

"They might be the one who did this to her..." Duck said.

The adults went quiet.

"Shit... You're right... Okay... Hospital it is." Kenny started the drive to the hospital.

However, when they arrived the child took one look out the window and started panicking.

Clementine could see countless bodies. Bodies of people who had died, some walkers, other just lifeless corpses. There was no way she would go into that place. They'd be walker food if they did.

"What's wrong? What's wrong with her? Katjaa asked.

"I don't know…" Kenny said.

"Sweetie, they can help you." Katjaa said as Kenny put the car in park.

Clementine shook her head, "NO!"

Kenny quickly realized the girl was panicking because of the hospital, he furrowed his brows wondering why she was scared of the place.

"Honey, please…" Katjaa said. "The doctors are going to help-"

"NO!" Clementine shouted.

The family was surprise when the doors suddenly locked. Kenny tried the door, but it wouldn't open and no matter how many times he pressed the button, nothing happened.

"What the fuck…?" Kenny mumbled.

"No…" Clementine said calmly.

Kenny glanced back at the child with a surprised look.

"D-Did you do that?" Kenny asked her.

Clementine didn't respond.

Kenny sighed, putting the car into drive, he started to drive away from the hospital.

Katjaa sent him a look. "What are you doing? She needs a doctor."

"She has one." Kenny said.

"What?" Katjaa asked.

"You can fix her." Kenny said.

"W-What? No... I-" Katjaa stammered.

"You have to Kat. She's terrified. I'm going to the hotel." Kenny said.

Katjaa shook her head, "Kenny, take her to the hospital."

"No." Kenny continued to drive and the child seemed to calm down as the moved further away from the hospital.

"Fighting?" Clementine asked, looking to the boy beside her.

"Don't worry." He said. "They just argue sometimes."

"Why?" Clementine asked.

"Lots of reasons." The boy shrugged.

Clementine furrowed her brows.

"My mom's been depressed, she just lost her mom… My grandmother. It's been a hard time for the whole family."

"Sad?" Clementine asked.

The thirteen-year-old let out a sigh. "Not always."

"Sorry…" Clementine said.

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault."

"…Name?" Clementine asked. She had a pretty good idea already, but she needed to be sure.

"My name? It's Duck." The boy answered.

Clementine gasped. "D-Duck?" It really was him.

"Well, it's actually Kenneth Jr, but people call me Duck." Duck replied.

The boy was a lot different than Clementine remembered and he had grown quite a bit.

"What about you? What's your name?" Duck asked her.

"Clementine." Clementine said.

"Nice to meet you, Clem. Can I call you Clem?" Duck said.

"Okay…" Clementine nodded.

"How old are you?" Duck asked her.

"Eleven." Clementine answered.

"Really?" Duck sounded almost shocked. "You're so small, do your parents ever feed you?"

Clementine didn't respond to that. She didn't know how to. Her parents were dead, as far as she knew. But then again, Duck should've been dead too…

Clementine watched Duck dig into a bag.

He pulled out a bag of chips, "Want some?"

Clementine hesitated.

"They're barbecue flavor. They're really good." Duck urged her to take some.

Clementine slowly reached into the bag, pick up one of the chips, she brought it to her mouth and took a bite. "More?"

"Sure, you can have the rest." Duck offered her the bag, which she accepted.

"Alright, darling. I got a few questions you need to answer." Kenny spoke up. "First off, what's your name?"

"Her name's Clementine." Duck said.

"How do you know?" Kenny asked.

"She told me." Duck said.

"Well, that's a very pretty name." Katjaa said.

Clementine frowned, remembering hearing those words before. "T-Thank you."

"How old are you, Clementine?" Katjaa asked the child.

"Eleven…" Clementine answered.

"You're eleven?" Katjaa asked.

Clementine nodded.

"Where are your parents?" Kenny asked. "They anywhere around."

Clementine once again fell silent. She didn't know how to answer that question.

"We're trying to help you, hon…" Kenny said. "You gotta talk to us."

Clementine didn't respond, she started once again munching on the chips Duck had given her.

"We need to take her to the police department." Katjaa said.

"I ain't doing that tonight. We'll take her first thing in the morning." Kenny said.

"This is ridiculous." Katjaa said.

Kenny groaned, "I'm tired, Kat. Let's just get to the hotel and get some rest. Then we'll figure everything out tomorrow."

"Fine…" Katjaa replied, saying no more.

* * *

The rest of the ride to the hotel was a quiet one.

When they arrived Katjaa let out a sigh. They're going to ask about her shoulder if they see it.

Kenny huffed. Pulling his jacket off, he handed it to the child. Clementine looked confused. Duck took the jacket and helped the girl place it on.

"This is a bad idea." Katjaa said.

"We're helping her Kat. We have no idea what type of shit happened to the kid." Kenny parked in the parking lot and unlocked the door, surprised to see they work fine again. "Alright… Let's get inside."

They exited the car and Katjaa took Clementine's hand.

Clementine remembered how the woman used to hold her hand when she was younger. She missed it.

They walked towards the hotel and entered the building. Clementine was looked around with wide eyes. Everything seemed so normal. She didn't understand how this was possible.

Clementine looked around the hotel as Kenny spoke to the desk clerk. The child tugged her hand from Katjaa's grip and started to wander through the building.

The child wandered around the hotel until she came to a gym. Through the glass door she noticed a television. She tried the handle for the door, but it was locked.

The girl tried the door again, but it wouldn't budge.

"Sweetie?"

Clementine turned at the sound of the woman's voice.

"I don't think they let kids in there." The woman said.

Clementine didn't care about that. All she wanted was to get inside and watch that TV.

The girl turned away from the woman, looking to the locked door.

The woman gasped as the door suddenly switched from locked to unlocked.

Clementine smiled, pulling the door open and stepping into the room.

The woman stood frozen in surprise as Clementine made her way towards the television.

Moments passed before the child heard a voice call her name.

Clementine turned to see Katjaa.

"There you are." Katjaa said. "You can't wander off like that, sweetie. Do you understand?"

The child nodded, her curly hair bouncing.

"Come on. Let's meet the boys in the room." Katjaa said, taking the girl's hand.

Katjaa led the child through the building and to an elevator.

Clementine looked around curiously. She hadn't seen a place with electricity in so long… It seemed like forever.

"Want to press the button?" Katjaa asked. "We're going to the third floor."

Clementine looked to the buttons before reaching out to press the third one. The door closed and the elevator started to go up.

Clementine felt anticipation grip her as they rose floors. She counted in her mind, One… Two… Three.

The door opened with a ding and Clementine's eyes grew wide as she saw the blood-filled hallway she noticed one of the doors open, to reveal a walker and it was coming right towards her.

Panicked, she quickly pressed the button to close the door.

"Clem, don't do that." Katjaa pulled the child back as the man caught the door, right before it closed. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine…" The stranger replied.

Clementine was more than confused, she had sworn that man was a walker.

Katjaa tugged the young girl from the elevator and led her to her room.

Clementine looked around the halls that now appeared to be normal.

Katjaa walked down the hall with the little girl, arriving at their hotel room, she used the key to open the door, ushering Clementine inside before going in herself.

"What took you two so long?" Kenny asked. He was leaned back on the bed watching TV.

Duck was already fast asleep on the other bed.

Katjaa didn't respond to her husband. She helped Clementine over to the bed Duck was resting on. "Let's take care of your injuries, sweetheart."

"Okay…" Clementine said.

Katjaa went to one of the family bags, getting out a first aid kit. She started to work on treating the child's injured shoulder. Once she was done bandaging the gunshot wound she checked her for other injuries. Her eyes fell on a certain wound on the child's arm. "What happened here?"

"Dog." Clementine answered.

"A dog?" Katjaa repeated.

"Dog bit me." Clementine said.

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that, sweetie." Katjaa frowned. "Does it hurt?"

"No…" Clementine said.

"Alright, honey…" Katjaa said. The woman went to search through the bag for an outfit for the child to wear. "Here, we go. Let's put this one you."

"Okay…"

Katjaa pulled the girl's nightgown off before helping her into the new outfit. The nightshirt was large on her, but Clementine didn't mind that.

"There you go." Katjaa smiled at the girl. "Time for bed, sweetie."

Clementine nodded, letting out a tiny yawn. The child laid down. She hadn't slept in a bed in so long.

"Goodnight." Katjaa said.

"Night…" Clementine replied.

* * *

The night went by and morning came. Clementine was pulled awake by someone nudging her.

"Clem, wake up." Duck called.

Clementine opened her eyes, looking to the boy.

"Come on, let's go to breakfast." Duck urged.

The girl glanced to the time, it was pretty early, only 7:05.

"Let's go. Aren't you hungry?" Duck asked.

Clementine sighed, sitting up. The room was still dark, thanks to the heavy curtains that covered the window. If she hadn't looked to the time, she would have still thought it was night.

"Tired…" Clementine said.

"I guess you're right…" Duck said. "You can go back to sleep. I'm going to watch some TV.

Clementine yawned, before laying back down. She tried to go back to sleep, but found herself unable to. "Can't sleep."

"I guess that's my fault for waking you." Duck said.

"Duck, turn off that TV." Kenny called, groggily.

Duck sighed, turning off the television.

"Breakfast?" Clementine spoke up.

* * *

The children explored around the hotel, searching for the breakfast room. Clementine recalled on all the times she used to hang out with Duck at the motor inn. Although, all they mostly did was draw together or kick a soccer ball around, she still enjoyed it.

Just like she enjoyed it now. She had missed her friend.

"Hey, you want some candy?" Duck called to the girl.

Clementine raised a brow, "Candy?"

"Yeah. See, there's a vending machine." Duck pointed towards the machine.

Clementine slowly approached the vending machine. Duck followed her.

"Here I got some money. What do you want?" The boy asked.

Clementine pointed to the chocolate bar.

Duck nodded. "Alright." He started to put change in the machine before entering the code for the candy bar.

Clementine frowned when nothing happened.

"Crap. We're short a quarter." Duck sighed, he felt around his pocket but couldn't find another quarter.

Clementine frowned, she wanted some candy.

"I'm sorry, Clem." Duck said. "I don't have enough change."

"Want…" Clementine mumbled.

"Clementine?"

The girl's attention was focused intensely on the vending machine.

Duck was shocked when all the candy bars suddenly began dropping to the bottom of the machine, one after the other. "What the..."

Breakfast forgotten, Duck started gathering the chocolate bars before grabbing his friend's hand and rushing towards their hotel room.

He opened the door, pulling Clementine inside.

"Mom, Dad! Clementine just made all the fudge bars fall out the vending machine!" Duck exclaimed, excitement clear in his voice.

Kenny groaned before groggily asking, "What?"

"She made all the fudge bars fall out the vending machine." Duck beamed. "It was so cool!"

Katjaa let out a sigh, sitting up. "Duck…"

"I'm serious! She did it. We didn't have enough change and she just made all the fudge bars fall without touching the machine!" Duck said.

Kenny sat up as well, looking to the two children. When he saw all the chocolate bars he muttered a quiet, "Holy shit."

"What?" Katjaa asked.

"This is amazing…" Kenny said. "She locked the car doors too."

"Kenny, come on. That's outrageous." Katjaa said.

"But it's true. You did it, right Clem?" Kenny asked the young girl, standing from the bed.

Clementine shrugged.

"This is amazing..." He repeated. "Here, try to turn on the TV." Kenny gripped the child's shoulders, moving her in front of the television.

"What are you doing?" Katjaa asked.

Kenny didn't respond. "Turn the TV on."

Clementine cocked her head to the side, looking confused.

"Come on, darlin. Try it." Kenny urged the child.

Katjaa sighed. "What? Kenny, this is nonsense."

"Think about it, this is amazing. She can move shit with her mind!" Kenny said. "Imagine, we lock the keys and the car, and she just opens the door with her mind."

Katjaa shook her head.

Clementine looked to the television for a moment before looking back to Kenny. "Want candy."

Kenny sighed. "Fine."

"Did you two get breakfast?" Katjaa asked the two children.

"Mom, this IS breakfast." Duck motioned to the many candy bars, he had placed on the bed.

"You two aren't eating all of those candy bars." Katjaa said.

The two children frowned.

"Candy's not good for you." Katjaa said.

"I say we go out for some breakfast." Kenny said.

"I guess that's a good idea. We might as well just check out soon anyway." Katjaa said.

"So we're not coming back?" Duck asked.

"We still have to go to the police station…." Katjaa said. "And I was thinking… Doesn't she look familiar to you?"

"Now that you mention it… She really does." Kenny replied.

Katjaa seemed to think for a moment. "…Remember that missing child's case. The little girl who was on the news. The parents begging for their child back…"

"Holy shit…" Kenny mumbled.

"What?" Duck asked his father, looking curious.

"I think we're about to close a missing child case." Kenny said.

* * *

Clementine tried to understand why they had brought her to the police department and why the officers were continuously questioning her. She didn't want to speak with them.

"Honey, you can trust us?" One of the officers spoke in a gentle voice.

Clementine knew better than to trust people. She wouldn't let a uniform fool her.

The officer let out a sigh, as the child refused to speak.

Clementine perked up as she heard voices outside.

"Alright, you're free to go."

"You sure?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah. We'll handle it from here." Was the response.

Clementine jumped to her feet, hearing Kenny's voice but her path to the door was blocked by one of the officers.

"I think we should stay, until her parents arrive." Kenny said.

"Well, we still have to contact them." The officer said. "If you want to stay, you're free to. But we want to at least have a word with the child first."

"That's fine…" Kenny said.

"I do want to ask, has the girl spoken?" The officer questioned.

"Yes. Why?" Katjaa said.

"We can't get a word out of her." The officer explained.

"She takes a while to warm up." Katjaa said.

"Can we see her?" Duck asked.

"Sure..." The officer led them to the room the girl was in.

"Hey, darling." Kenny greeted the child.

The girl beamed. "Kenny!"

The officers exchanged looks, surprised to hear the child speak.

* * *

Hours passed with the officers trying to make contact with the child's parents.

Several attempts ended in the wrong number, or with no answer.

Clementine still refused to speak to the officers and had spent the day drawing with Duck.

"It's getting late... I think we should get going." Katjaa said.

"Do we have to?" Duck sighed.

"We still gotta get home, honey..." Katjaa reminded. "We'll probably have to book a hotel again tonight."

Duck frowned, "But..."

Kenny stopped him. "You're mother's right, Duck. We gotta get going. Clem will be fine..."

"Please contact us once you find her parents..." Katjaa said to the officers in the room.

"I guess we're leaving..." Duck said to Clementine.

Clementine frowned. She didn't want them to leave. "Why?"

"We gotta go back home eventually." Duck replied. "Hey... Here..." He picked up a pencil and wrote a phone number on one of the pieces of paper. "Now you can call me whenever... And maybe one day, your mom and dad will let you come visit us."

"Okay..." Clementine said.

"Before I go... Can you do another magic trick?" Duck asked.

Clementine raised a brow.

"There's a soda machine outside the room." Duck smirked. "But I don't have any money."

* * *

Diana, not getting an answer after repeatedly knocking at her husband's office door let out a sigh. She tried the knob, finding the door was open. "I made dinner." Diana said.

"Okay..." Ed replied.

"You've been cooped up in here all day." Diana said. "When are you going to come out?"

"I've been busy..." Ed simply said.

"You're always busy..." Diana replied. "Aren't you at least going to eat dinner?"

The man shook his head, "I'm not hungry."

The woman rolled her eyes, "Okay... I guess I'm eating alone. Again." She shut the door, making her way down the hall. She stopped before she passed her daughter's room. The door was shut, hadn't been opened in over a year...

Diana let out a sigh, opening the door to the vacant room.

She wanted nothing more than to hold her daughter again. She remembered how the entire neighborhood had help search for the child when she went missing. It seemed like everyone had given up on the poor little girl.

Four years... It had been four years since Clementine had gone missing.

Diana couldn't help but feel like it was her fault. She and Ed had been on vacation, Clementine was left with her babysitter, Sandra. According to Sandra, she had gone into the house to get some lunch for a picnic Clementine had been begging to have, while inside little Clementine wandered into the front yard. When Sandra returned, the child was nowhere to be seen.

Diana couldn't imagine what horrors her daughter might have been going through. She didn't even want to think about it.

Her heart clenched as she stood in the bedroom, it was perfectly clean, stuffed animals on the made up bed.

No sign that a child had played in it. A reminder of what wasn't there….

Unable to stay in the room any longer, Diana turned to leave, shutting the door.

She made her way downstairs to eat a probably cold supper, however upon arriving in the kitchen she heard the phone rang.

At first she ignored it, but when it continued to ring, something told her to answer it.

Diana walked to the phone, picking it up. "Hello?"

"Can I speak to Ed or Diana Sayer?" Came a voice from the other end.

"Diana's speaking."

The person let out a sigh. "You sure were hard to get in contact with. This is officer Nolan, we spoke about your daughter a while back…"

Her daughter? She hadn't heard any news about the child for months, what could it be? Diana felt her heart start to pound. "Y-Yes… What is this about?" She knew there were two possibilities both being they found her daughter, but either the girl was dead… or she was alive.

"We have good news Mrs. Sayer."

Diana waited to hear the words she was now expecting him to say, "Yes?" She felt tears pricking her eyes already.

Officer Nolan spoke again, "We've found your daughter."


	3. Chapter 3

Diana nearly dropped the phone. A shocked expression formed on her face as tears fell from her eyes. "Y-You… You what?"

"We've found your daughter." The officer repeated.

"My… My daughter?" Diana stammered, "Are you sure that it's my daughter you've found?"

"We're certain, ma'am. We currently have little Clementine in police custody." He said before repeating for a third time. "We've found your daughter…"

"You're serious? You found my baby? H-How is she?" Diana asked.

"She's currently being looked over by a medic, but we can bring her to you as soon as-"

"No…" Diana cut him off. "I want to pick her up…"

"I… I'm not sure…" Officer Nolan sounded hesitant. "It's routine for the officers to drive the victim home, in order to make sure they arrive safely."

"We'll bring ID. I'll give you a call as soon as we get home, you can even come over and check on her tomorrow, just please let me pick my baby up… Let my husband and I bring her home…"

Officer Nolan let out a sigh. "…Okay."

"Thank you…" Diana said. "…So… she's not hurt is she…? Is she okay?"

"We'll discuss her condition once you get here. As I was saying before, we have a medic looking her over right now." Officer Nolan replied.

"Oh… I… We'll be there as soon as we can." Diana said.

"Okay, ma'am." Officer Nolan said.

"Take care of my girl…" Diana said, voice sounding almost desperate.

"Of course." The officer replied.

After that, Diana hung up the phone. The woman was beyond shocked, they had finally found her daughter after all these years, and the child was alive.

She had to tell Ed about the great news.

With her legs shaking and her knees threatening to buckle at any second, Diana rushed to her husband's office and practically banged on the door.

After a few moments with no response, Diana called out to her husband. "Ed, open the door! I need to talk to you."

"I'm busy!" Ed called out.

"It's important!" Diana replied.

"Can't it wait until later?" Ed asked.

"It's about your daughter!" Diana said.

Ed fell silent and for a while Diana thought he wasn't going to respond. He seemed to shut down when it came to talking about Clementine. However, a short moment later she heard a click of the door unlocking.

Ed opened the door slightly.

"Can I come in?" Diana asked.

"Come in…" Ed sighed, moving out the way to allow the woman to enter the room.

Diana walked into the room, watching as her husband made his way back towards his desk and took a seat. She frowned as she caught sight of the liquor on his desk. "You're drinking again…" She stated with a degree of annoyance in her voice.

Ed simply shrugged. "And?"

"I asked you not to do that anymore." Diana said.

"Get off my back for once. I'm allowed to have a drink if I feel like it." Ed grumbled.

"How do you think Clem would feel if she saw her daddy drinking? We always taught her alcohol and drugs are bad, and here you are becoming an alcoholic."

"Do you see any kids in this house?" Ed asked. "Because I don't." He picked up his glass and took a swig of the alcohol. "We had a little girl... She died a few years ago."

"She is not dead!" Diana said, horrified by Ed's statement.

"Come on, Diana. Don't do this." Ed said. "You and I both know that Clementine is gone."

"I can't believe that you can just... move on like that..." Diana said.

"It's what Clementine would have wanted…" Ed replied.

"I said she is NOT dead!" Diana said. "Stop talking like she is."

"I love Clementine as much as you do... but being in denial isn't going to bring her back." Ed said.

"No... No..." Diana said. "Ed, listen to me. I got a phone call from the police station."

"To tell us what we already know?" Ed asked.

"No…"

"It's the same thing every time you call them. "Sorry, we don't have any leads, we'll contact you if we find anything", It's been four years. They're not finding anything… because there's nothing to find. Clementine is gone, we have to let her go…" Ed said.

"I won't. They called to tell us she's alive! They found our little girl, Ed! They have her..." Diana told him.

Ed nearly froze, a look of disbelief on his face. "W-What?"

"She's at the police station." Diana said. "They said we could pick her up tonight."

Ed placed his glass down, his hands shaking. Were Diana's words true? Was their daughter truly alive? He knew she liked to hold on to hope that Clementine would come back one day, hence leaving everything in her room exactly the same, but was Clementine really at that police station right now?

Diana watched as the man wrung his hands together. "Ed?"

"She... She can't be alive..." He shook his head. "I spent so long thinking she was dead... Acting like she was gone..."

"But she is alive..." Diana said, tears springing to her eyes. "And I'm going to go get her. We should go together..."

"I can't... I can't face her..." Ed said.

Diana couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So… you're not coming with me?"

Ed shook his head.

"You haven't seen her in years and you're refusing to go get her?!" Diana asked, looking frustrated and upset.

Ed didn't respond. He had nothing more to say. He felt like a failure as a father, he had given up on his daughter being alive, when she was out there that entire time. He should've looked harder instead of turning to alcohol to drown his problems in.

"Fine..." Diana huffed. Turning her back, she stormed from the room.

Diana made her way downstairs, grabbing her keys from the kitchen counter, she didn't bother changing her clothes as she headed towards the door.

"Wait!" She heard Ed's voice call. "I'm going with you…"

"Are you drunk?" Diana suddenly questioned.

"What?"

"Are you?" Diana asked.

"I wish." Ed scoffed.

Diana shook her head. "Don't say that."

"I didn't drink that much…" Ed said honestly.

"That's a good thing. And now that Clementine's coming home, I want you to give the bottle up completely." Diana said.

Ed let out a sigh, massaging his temples as they made their way out the door, locking it behind them. He headed towards the car and the two got inside.

Ed was gripped by anxiousness at the thought of being reunited with his child who he had thought was dead. He kept thinking of different possibilities, like them finding a child to claim was Clementine just to close the case. Ed knew he might have been being paranoid and that was probably partially the liquor's fault, but he couldn't help but feel nervous and somewhat skeptical about seeing his little girl again.

* * *

Clementine was still extremely confused by what was going on. One minute walkers were everywhere, then the next moment everything would seem so normal. It didn't make any sense.

She searched her mind for some kind of explanation to what the hell was going on, but found none. She had been shot… She was shot by Arvo… So how did she end up in that lab?

Even more confusing was Kenny's reaction towards her, she had just been with him… Yet when he saw her on the street he acted like he didn't recognize her. And then there was Duck and Kataa… They were dead… Clementine was sure they were dead, so how were they… why were they alive?

Clementine felt her head pounding as she tried to piece together all that was happening. She brought a small hand up to rub at her now throbbing head.

"Headache?" A sudden voice asked.

The child jumped in surprise, looking to see a man dressed in a white coat.

"It's okay, Clementine… No need to be afraid… I'm a doctor." The man said gently. "Does your head hurt?"

Clementine furrowed her brows, watching the man cautiously. Her head did hurt, and the bright light surely wasn't helping her headache, nor was this man's useless attempts to make conversation with her. The other room she was in before was quiet and had a dimmer light, she wanted to go back there.

"My name is Dr. Warren." The man introduced himself. "And I want to do a little check up on you to make sure you're not hurt. Is that alright."

Clementine's eyes drifted away from the man, looking around the room.

"Sweetie." Dr. Warren called. "Is that alright?"

"…No…" Clementine mumbled.

"Why not?" Dr. Warren asked.

"Said no…" The child repeated.

"But Clementine, I promise I won't hurt you, and as soon as I'm finished you can go right back to your drawings."

Clementine didn't respond. She wanted to tell the man to fuck off, but for some reason whenever she tried to speak the words felt trapped in her throat.

"Look, I'll be really fast." Dr. Warren said.

"No!" Clementine said a little louder. Why he was being so persistent, she didn't understand. But she felt like crap and she didn't appreciate him speaking to her like she was some kind of child.

The bothersome doctor, ignored the girl's protest and proceeded to check the child for injuries. The girl didn't complain as he did so. Her head was in increasingly growing pain.

Dr. Warren noticed the child gripping at her head. He was under the impression that the young girl had some sort of concussion.

The doctor took a small light from his pocket in shined it towards the child's eyes.

"Stop it!" Clementine knocked the light out of his hand.

The doctor frowned and knelt down to retrieve the light, "Sweetie, I just want to help you."

"No light!" Clementine yelled.

Dr. Warren gasped in surprised as the light bulb above his head shattered as the girl uttered that. The tiny flashlight in his hand no longer seemed to work either. They were in pitch black darkness.

Clementine was surprised as well, had she done that?

The doctor quickly found the door and opened it… I… I think we're done here."

He ushered the young girl into the hallway quickly stepping out the darkened room as well. He led the girl down the hall and back to the room where she was drawing before.

"You go… back to your coloring, sweetie…" Dr. Warren said.

The doctor, who appeared shaken up by the incident that just occurred, went to fill the officers in on Clementine's condition as the child went back to her drawing.

Drawing was the only thing that made her feel relief from the stress of everything. Suddenly the child's attention was drawn by a commotion just outside the room.

"Where is she?" Asked a voice which Clementine quickly noted was familiar.

"Hold on, ma'am. State your names please." A female officer stopped her.

"I'm Diana Sayer. This is my husband Ed Sayer. I got a call about my daughter, Clementine… We're here to pick her up…" Diana said.

"Ah, yes." The woman responded. "Right this way."

"Is she okay? Is she hurt?" Ed asked.

"She has a minor concussion; she's also been shot… And she's malnourished…" The police woman responded.

Diana let out a gasp. "My poor baby…"

"She'll be okay, Diana…" Ed said.

The police woman opened the door to the room Clementine was in. "Clementine, look who's here to see you."

Clementine's eyes widened as she was suddenly face to face with her parents. She watched as her mother's eyes filled with tears, lips trembling as she approached her daughter.

"C-Clementine…" Diana said, tears falling from her eyes.

Clementine shifted back. The child drew her eyes away from the two people who looked so much like her parents. There was no way that was her mother and father. Her parents were dead.

"Clementine, we've missed you so much, honey…" Diana said.

Clementine gave no response to the woman. Instead, she once again began drawing.

"Clementine…" Diana crouched beside the little girl. "How are you feeling?"

Clementine tried to block the woman's voice out, refusing to look at her.

"Clem, please just answer me… Look at me." Diana called.

Clementine still said nothing. She began scribbling harder, trying to keep her focus on drawing. It was difficult not to get distracted by the woman's urging voice.

"Clem, please..."

Frustrated, Clementine slammed her sketch pad down. The three adults in the room watched as the paper she had been drawing on tore itself from the pad and crumbled up, all on it's on.

Clementine gave no reaction and just resumed drawing on the fresh paper.

"I… Did…. Did you see that?" The female officer asked. "D-Did you see what just happen? She didn't touch that paper… I… I must be losing my mind…"

"You're not…" Ed sighed.

"P-Pardon?" The officer raised a brow.

"You're not losing your mind… Clementine has a… strange gift…" Ed said.

The officer was surprised to hear that.

"Don't listen to him." Diana cut in. "He's always been a joker."

"I… Right… No way she did that…" The officer said. She started to back out of the room, clearly startled by what she had just witnessed.

Diana frowned, placing a hand on her child's shoulder. The little girl flinched and tensed up immediately. "Honey, it's me… It's mommy… Can you talk to me?"

There was no further reaction from the child.

"We want to take you home, Clem." Ed spoke up. He couldn't believe that his daughter was sitting right there in front of him. His heart ached as he longed to pick her up.

"Come on, Clem…" Diana tried to urge the child to stand up. "Don't you want to go home?"

Ed and Diana both exchanged looks as the child still gave no response. Suddenly someone else stepped in the room once again.

"I'm Dr. Warren." The man who had entered the room said. He shook Ed's hand. Diana stood up, and shook his hand as well. "Well… Your little girl is one tough cookie. She has quite a few injuries. Bullet wound in her shoulder, a mild concussion, and she's malnourished, it's like little Clementine has been on a battle field."

"She'll be okay though, right?" Diana asked.

"She'll be fine, she's just going to need time to heal. I suggest you just keep a close eye on her for the time being. The family who brought her in took good care of her." Dr. Warren said.

Diana raised a brow. "Family…? Where are they? I'd like to thank them."

"They left a few hours ago…" Dr. Warren said.

"Duck…" Clementine mumbled.

The adults looked to the child.

"What was that, baby?" Diana asked.

Clementine picked up a piece of paper, the one Duck had written his phone number on and held it up to the woman.

Diana took the paper, surprised her child was handing her something. She wanted to speak to the child, to hug the child, but she didn't know how the girl would react. "Clementine…"

"Yes?" Clementine looked to the woman with a blank expression.

"D-Do you want to go home?" Diana asked.

Clementine shrugged. She didn't know what she wanted, she didn't know what home was anymore. The child slowly got to her feet and Diana gave a small smile.

"You have a very unique little girl…" Dr. Warren said.

"Yeah… We do…" Ed agreed.

Diana placed her arm around the child's shoulders, and this time the girl didn't flinch.


	4. Chapter 4

Leading the child outside, they brought her to their car and Diana helped the girl into the back seat.

After making sure her daughter's seatbelt was secure, Diana got in the vehicle as well.

Ed took the driver's seat, making sure everyone was situated before he started driving.

"Are you hungry, Clementine?" Diana asked. "Daddy and I can stop somewhere and get you something to eat."

Clementine kept quiet, looking out the window.

"So… Is that a no?" Ed raised a brow.

"We'll just stop anyway. We can get her something small." Diana said.

"Aright." Ed said. He glanced to the rearview mirror to his daughter. He wondered what his little girl was thinking about. It was still crazy to see the child again after all those years.

He drove to a fast food restaurant, going through the drive-thru. "What should I get her?"

"Just get her a kid's meal. I guess some nuggets and fries." Diana said.

Ed gave a nod.

After ordering the kid's meal, Ed continued driving to their house.

Diana handed the food to the child. "Here you go, sweetie."

Clementine hesitantly accepted the bag. "…Thank you…"

"You're welcome, sweetie." Diana said, offering the girl a smile.

Clementine looked into the bag. The child started to munch on the fries while looking out the windows.

It wasn't long before her surroundings started to become familiar. Clementine realized they were nearing her old neighborhood. The child gasped.

She didn't want to go back home. Back to that place where everything started. She didn't want to see the broken furniture, or the blood on the floor.

And all of the sudden, the child fell into a full out panic.

"No! No!" Clementine exclaimed.

The parents were confused when their little girl started screaming.

Ed and Diana were both concerned, so much so that Ed pulled the car over. Diana immediately went to her daughter's side, checking on the child.

"Baby, what's wrong? What is it?" Diana asked, looking worried.

Clementine didn't respond. The child fumbled with her restraining seatbelt, dropping her bag of food in her panic.

Diana tried to figure out what was wrong. "Are you hurt? What's wrong, sweetie? Talk to me…"

Clementine shook her head, stammering a bit. "D-Don't…"

"Don't what?" Ed asked.

"Don't… Don't go home…" Clementine said.

Diana frowned, "You don't want to go home?"

Clementine gave another frantic shake of her head. "Don't go…."

"But, why not? You haven't been home in so long, sweetie." Diana said.

"Don't go…" Clementine mumbled again.

Diana saw a few tears brim in the child's eyes. "Honey, it's late. We need to go-"

"NO!" Clementine shouted.

Ed flinched and Diana screamed in surprise and a bit of fear as the back window broke into thousands of pieces.

Their eyes were wide, as they looked to their little girl, who they knew was the cause.

"C-Clem…" Diana stuttered. "Listen… I know you don't want to go home, but we have to…"

"No…" Clementine said with a shake of the head.

Diana sighed. "But, Clem-"

"No!" Clementine repeated slightly louder than before.

Ed noticed the windshield shake a bit. "Diana, stop. We're not going home, Clem… It's okay."

"What? Where are we going to go?" Diana asked.

"We're going to drive around for a bit." Ed replied.

Before Diana could utter a word, Ed got ready to start the car.

Diana sighed, but fixed her seatbelt in place as they drove off with no destination.

Nearly half an hour passed with Ed driving from neighborhood to neighborhood. Part of him worried that someone would report him as being suspicious, seeing how they were literally driving in circles within the neighborhoods.

The minute he started driving, Clementine seemed to calm down a drastically. If that was what it took to keep the child from screaming and being destruction, so be it.

Eventually, Clementine had fallen asleep and Ed to the cue to head home before the girl woke up.

The ride to the house was a short one, since they weren't that far to begin with.

Ed stopped the car, before glancing back to make sure his daughter remained asleep. She did.

"She uh… She doesn't talk much anymore…" Ed said quietly.

"Maybe she will once she's more settled in. I mean, she's just getting home… She probably has a lot on her mind." Diana said.

"I guess you're right…" Ed said.

"Yeah… I'm just glad to have her back." Diana said.

Ed frowned. "...I really thought she was gone… I thought that we had lost her…"

"Me too…" Diana said honestly. "I tried to be hopeful, but I thought we had lost our baby…"

"Well, we should probably get inside before she wakes up." Ed said.

Diana gave a nod.

The two proceeded to get out the car.

Ed carefully got Clementine from the backseat, while Diana went to open the front door for him.

Ed quickly noted the glass scattered on the seat of the car. He made a reminder in the back of his head to clean it up tomorrow.

After closing the back car door and locking the car, he headed towards the house with the child in his arms.

Once they had gotten into the house, Ed spoke, "I'm going to be in my office for a while. Maybe Clem should stay with you for a while…"

Diana frowned, "You're not drinking, are you? I want you to give that up now that Clem's home."

"I… I just need some time alone… To think." Ed said.

Diana sent him a look, but nodded. "Alright."

"You two can have the bed. I'm going to rest on the couch tonight…" Ed told his wife.

Diana wasn't surprised. With their constant arguing, it had become pretty normal for Ed to take the couch at night. That didn't bother her. What did bother her was how detached Ed seemed from their daughter. "Okay… Mind putting Clementine in the bed?"

"Sure…" Ed said.

Diana watched as he headed for the stairs. She followed after him. The two entered the bedroom and Ed placed the child on the bed, tucking her in.

"Thank you…" Diana said.

Ed gave a single nod then said, "Goodnight."

Diana frowned, her husband was showing no emotion. No hug or kiss for his daughter. He was barely acknowledging her. She felt her heart clench. The two had such a close bond when Clementine was younger, but that seemed to have changed… "Goodnight…" She replied in a quiet voice.

She watched Ed make his way from the room. Fighting back tears, she laid beside her sleeping daughter, cuddling the young child close. She had missed the girl so much, and now that she was back she never planned to let her go.

* * *

Ed couldn't sleep, he kept thinking about his little girl. Wondering what the child had been through.

He sighed, she wasn't the same happy little kid she used to be.

He had changed as well, it wasn't going to be easy to give up his alcohol problem. Yes, his daughter was finally back home, but the poor girl was traumatized. And they had yet to catch the assholes who snatched her from her family.

Even worse was how hard it felt for him to connect with the child, he had barely spoken to Clementine since their reunion. He just didn't know what to say.

It hurt him deeply to know just how hard it is for him to even look at her. He felt so guilty, like everything was somehow his fault. He should have searched harder.

He leaned back in his seat, running a hand over his head. He tried to think of how much therapy his poor daughter was going to need. Hell, so far it seemed like the child barely had any verbal skills anymore.

Ed glanced to the bottle of rum on his desk. He knew Diana wanted him to give up the bottle, she had continuously fussed at him about his drinking habit, but that didn't stop him.

Stress only seemed to worsen it. Like now…

He fought against the urge to grab the bottle and take a swig.

Ed sat at the desk, trying to avoid looking at the bottle. He decided to go take a shower to ease his racing mind.

* * *

In the late hours of the night Clementine woke up and realized immediately that she was resting on a bed. She was wrapped in her mother's arms. Clementine gave a smile relaxing in the embrace.

So, it hadn't been a dream. She was really back with her parents, but how?

The child squirmed her way out of her mother's grasp.

Curiously, she climbed out the bed and started looking around the house.

She didn't know what it was, but she couldn't bring herself to enter her bedroom.

Instead, her little legs carried her downstairs.

The child shuddered as she looked around. Memories flashed in her head, and suddenly she's eight years old again.

Blood covers the room, she hears screams, then it all goes quiet.

She panics for a moment, before quickly shaking herself out of her shock.

The child does a quick look around to make sure everything is normal. She sighs in relief when she sees it is.

The young girl waited until her legs felt steady enough for her to begin walking again. She started searching around the house once more.

She found her father's old office. More memories flooded back as the child entered the room.

* * *

" _Play with me, daddy!" Clementine exclaimed._

 _Her father was always so busy. Even when he was home, he was constantly glued to his computer. Clementine felt like she never spent time with him._

" _Not now, honey. Why don't you go play with mommy?" Ed suggested._

" _But… But I wanted to play with you. You never play anymore." Clementine pouted. "I always play with mommy."_

" _Hey… Don't pout." Ed frowned. "Daddy's a bit busy right now. I'll play with you later."_

 _Clementine shook her head. "You always say that…"_

" _I will, honey. Just not now." Ed said. His attention was half on the computer and half on his daughter, however once he heard the poor child start to whimper, he turned his complete focus on the child. "What's wrong?"_

" _I…I wanted you to play with me… I never get to be with you, daddy…" Clementine felt her eyes water, as tears fell from her cheeks._

 _Ed stood from his chair and approached his daughter, who was clearly upset. He picked the small child up and wiped her tears away with a gentle hand. "Hey now, don't cry, baby girl… Look, I'll make it up to you. I'll play with you all day tomorrow."_

" _P-Promise?" Clementine sniffled out._

" _I promise, honey." Ed said, kissing the child's head. "It'll just be you and me."_

 _The child brightened a bit, "Okay, daddy."_

* * *

Clementine walked further into the room. The office was different than she remembered. There was a new desk, a bookshelf against the wall with several books that looked like they hadn't been touched in ages.

The office looked like a regular office. Clementine's attention was caught however when she noticed the bottle on her father's desk.

She walked over and picked the bottle up, reading the label, "Rum…" She wrinkled her nose, remembering how Luke and the other adults were downing it like it was nothing.

Jane had offered her a sip, but she refused. Her parents had always told her drinking was bad… So why was there a bottle of liquor in her father's room.

She carefully unscrewed the cap and gave the alcohol a whiff. It smelt bad, but her curiosity was piqued, she wanted to taste it.

She took the bottle to her lips and took a sip of the bitter fluid. She coughed a bit, before jumping in surprise when she heard the door open and her father's voice yelled out, "What the hell are you doing?!"

In her surprise, the glass bottle fell from her hands and crashed onto the floor beneath her.

"What are you doing in here?" Ed walked over to her, pulling her away from the broken glass. "This is daddy's office! You don't come in here! It's off-limits."

Clementine felt tears spring to her eyes. Her father hardly ever raised his voice at her. Whenever he did she knew she had done something really wrong.

"Do you understand?!" Ed asked the teary-eyed child.

Clementine's response was to start sobbing.

Ed looked on in shock, his gaze quickly softened. He pulled the child into a hug. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry, baby. Daddy didn't mean to scare you. It's just… this room isn't for kids. Daddy wants you to be safe, okay?" He rubbed the child's back trying to calm her down.

It took a few moments for the child's tears to stop.

"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" Ed asked.

Clementine sniffled a little more, shaking her head to indicate that she wasn't hurt.

"Okay… Good." Ed said. "What are you doing awake?"

Clementine gave a shrug.

"Can't sleep, huh?" Ed asked.

Clementine nodded in response this time.

"Alright. We how about you and I watch TV?" Ed said.

A little smile graced the child's lips. "Okay, daddy."

* * *

When Diana woke in the morning and realized Clementine was no longer in the bed, she panicked. The woman jumped from the bed and immediately started searching for her daughter.

As she entered the hallway she heard the TV downstairs.

The woman headed downstairs, to ask her husband where their child was.

She got her answer quickly as she spotted the two snuggled up on the couch.

She smiled at the sight, grabbing the TV remote, she switched the television off so they could rest.

Maybe things were rocky, but the sight in front of her was proof that with time things would get better. They just had to be patience, and everything would work out.


	5. Chapter 5

"Wake up, sleepy heads." Diana nudged her husband and daughter.

The child stirred a bit from her mother's nudging. Before long the girl's eyes finally opened.

"Hey, baby." Diana greeted. "I made breakfast."

Clementine rubbed her hand over her eyes, rubbing sleep away. "Breakfast?" She couldn't remember the last time she heard that word.

"Yeah. I made some pancakes, honey." Diana said. "Wake your daddy up for me."

Clementine looked to her father's sleeping figure. She gave the man a tap on the shoulder, receiving a groan in response.

"What?" Ed sighed out.

"Ed, get up. I made breakfast." Diana called.

"I'm not hungry." Ed said.

"You have to eat something. Besides, I was hoping that we could have a nice family breakfast." Diana said. "Wouldn't you like that, Clementine?"

The little girl nodded.

Ed finally opened his eyes and sat up. He was surprised for a moment when his gaze fell on his daughter. He knew the child had fallen asleep beside him, but part of him had thought it wasn't real. He had worried that it had all just been a dream.

Without a word, Ed pulled his child close to him, holding her tightly.

Clementine looked to her father with a curious expression.

"How did you sleep, Clem?" Ed finally asked the child.

"Good..." Clementine answered.

"That's good, baby girl." Ed said. "You hungry?"

Clementine gave a nod.

Ed looked to Diana, "What's for breakfast?"

"I made pancakes." Diana said. "Come on. Let's go eat."

Ed released Clementine from his embrace. They got up from the couch and the family of three headed to the dining area to eat.

They sat at the table and after saying grace the family began eating.

Clementine couldn't remember the last time she even thought about praying over her food, usually her first thought was "eat this before you starve".

Since she had left that lab or whatever that place was that she had woken up at, she hadn't gone a day without food. It was like before when everything was normal…Except, everything wasn't normal.

She had some strange abilities, powers…

Even stranger, was how her parents seemed aware of her powers. Before the apocalypse she couldn't move objects with her mind or break glass without touching it. This was all new to her…

Ed and Diana watched as their daughter ate her food as if it was the last meal she'd ever see.

"Clementine, baby. Slow down. The food's not going anywhere." Diana said. The woman felt her heart clench. She wondered if whoever had kidnapped her daughter had been starving the child. She recalled that doctor saying that her daughter was malnourished. Her poor little girl had been through hell.

Clementine gave no response as she continued to eat the food on her plate.

Ed and Diana exchanged looks.

"Clem…" Ed called. "Can't you at least use your fork?"

The child seemed to be ignoring them.

Ed sighed, "Okay then… I guess not."

Clementine didn't spare a word throughout the meal. They all ate in silence.

It wasn't the kind of family breakfast Diana had been hoping for, but she guessed it was better than nothing.

* * *

After breakfast was over with, Diana suggested they go clothes shopping for Clementine.

Ed declined the invitation. He had something more important to do.

Diana was a bit disappointed, but she didn't push him. She was used to Ed keeping to himself, but she had hoped things would be different with Clementine's return. She wanted him to spend time with their daughter now that they finally had her back.

After taking a quick shower, and allowing her daughter to get cleaned up as well, the mother and child headed out.

With them gone, Ed had the house to himself. He had a lot on his mind, he decided to take a shower of his own to ease away the thoughts.

Once he had showered and dressed, he wasted no time in going to his office. Grabbing bottle after bottle from his shelf and cabinet, he headed towards the kitchen, and one by one he emptied the contents of each bottle into the sink.

Diana wanted him to stop drinking and he would. If only for his daughter's sake. He didn't want Clementine to see him as an alcoholic. He wanted to be a good role model for his child. And he would be damned if he let the child start drinking because she got into her daddy's liquor cabinet one night and became addicted to the stuff.

Ed watched as the water washed every last drop of alcohol down the drain.

When each and every bottle was empty, he proceeded to throw the bottles away. Wrapping the trash up, he took the bag and set it outside.

Part of him regretted wasting all that alcohol, but at the same time, he knew he was doing the right thing.

Ed went back to his room, finding the last bottle that sat on his desk. The very one his daughter had drank from.

He picked up the bottle of rum, debating for a moment on drinking it. It wasn't that much it, wouldn't get him drunk. It couldn't hurt.

He brought the bottle to his lips, before quickly pulling it away. He had to fight the urge. It was time to give up the bottle, for his daughter's sake.

* * *

Diana and Clementine spent nearly an hour at the mall. Diana had tugged her child to the children's section and made her daughter try on outfit after outfit.

"You look so cute in that one!" Diana said. It had been so long since she chose a cute outfit for Clementine.

Clementine yawned, not responding to her mother's words.

Diana was sure Clementine was getting bored, and probably even tired.

"Alright, baby… I guess we can check out now." Diana said with a sigh.

Clementine nodded at that.

They got in the line for check out. As they waited, Clementine's attention was caught by a gumball machine. The child walked toward the machine as her mother started to check out.

Clementine frowned as she examined the machine. It required a quarter, which she didn't have. She wondered if she could do what she had done before with the vending machines.

The child focused on the gumball machine, trying to get a gumball to fall out. Moments passed and nothing had happened.

It wasn't long before she heard her mother's voice. "You want some gum, Clem?"

The girl gave no reply, keeping her focus on the machine in front of her.

Diana fished her hand into her purse, searching for a quarter. Just as she pulled one out, she was surprised when gumballs started to pour from the machine.

Clementine had a satisfied smile on her little face as she caught as many as she could from the machine.

Diana's eyes were wide. She knew what her daughter was capable of, but that didn't mean it never scared her. She just hoped no one else had realized what had just happened. Even if they saw they could just chalk it up to a machine malfunction.

"C-Come on, Clem." Diana took her child's hand and pulled her out of the store.

The woman practically rushed to the car, carrying the bags of her daughter's new clothes.

She shoved the bags into the trunk and ushered her daughter into the back seat.

Clementine was confused, she wondered if her mother was upset at her.

Diana got into the car and quickly buckled herself. "Put your seatbelt on, hon…"

Clementine did as her mother said.

Diana pulled the car out of the parking lot and began the drive home.

* * *

Ed sighed as he finished dumping the final bottle into the sink. He tossed the empty container into the garbage can and headed back to his office to sit a while. Picking up one of the books that he hadn't touched in so long, he started reading it. He figured it wouldn't be much longer before Diana and Clementine returned home.

About ten minutes had passed before he heard the door open and his wife and daughter entered the house.

"Alright, sweetie, how about you go change into your new outfits?" Diana suggested.

Clementine shrugged, accepting the bags of clothes.

"Ed, we're home!" Diana called out to her husband.

Ed got up from his chair and left his office room to greet them. "I heard you two come in. Hey."

Diana raised a brow at him.

Ed ignored her look and pulled his daughter into a hug. "Hey, baby. Did you have a nice time with mommy?"

Clementine gave a nod.

"Go on and get changed, Clementine." Diana interrupted the moment.

Clementine headed to the bathroom, to put on one of her new outfits.

Ed sighed, "Don't look at me like that, Diana."

"What were you doing in there?" Diana asked.

"Not what you think I was." Ed said.

"I don't believe you. I told you to get rid of the bottles. I don't want Clementine seeing this stuff." Diana said.

"Diana-"

"No!" Diana cut him off. "We have enough to deal with as it is. I for one don't want my child to grow up and think it's okay to become an alcoholic."

"Diana!" Ed exclaimed.

"What, Ed? What?" Diana said, looking irritated.

"I didn't drink the damn bottles! I dumped them!" Ed said.

The woman looked shocked. "You what?"

"I dumped them all… Each and every one of them." Ed informed her.

"You're serious? What made you do that?" Diana asked.

"I don't want our daughter to see me like that." Ed said. "You're right… It's time to give up the bottle. I know it's not going to be easy, but I'm going to do my best. For Clementine."

"Thank you." Diana said.

* * *

Only a few days had passed since he gave up the bottle and Ed already felt like crap.

His daughter's behavior wasn't helping. She wasn't the same child they knew and they had no idea how to fix her.

Even worse was the fact that her "gift" was getting out of control. If the child wanted something, or didn't want something that "gift" always found a way to cause some sort of chaos.

Ed was trying to stick to his word of staying sober, but he knew it would be so easy to just grab a bottle and drink his stress away. It was only getting harder and harder to fight the urge with each day that passed.

Between therapy for Clementine and visits to the detectives it seemed like his days were full of never ending stress.

"I want to know why my daughter acts in the manner she does. She was an extremely verbal child. She started speaking when she was eight months old. Now she can barely utter a sentence." Diana said.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." The therapist replied.

"Has she said anything to you? Anything about what happened? Or… anything at all, really?" Ed asked.

"No… I'm sorry." The therapist said. "How is she at home?"

"She's the same as she is here. Quiet, withdrawn, and she refuses to go in her bedroom." Diana said.

"She just needs some time." The therapist said. "I can tell your little girl is extremely intelligent, but she's just been through a traumatic experience and she's been home for less than a week. Let her take some time to get adjusted."

"Maybe you're right." Diana said, glancing to her daughter with a distraught look on her face.

Clementine was paying no attention to the conversation as she colored away in her coloring book.

"I just don't know what to do." Diana said.

"We'll figure it out. One step at a time." The therapist said.

* * *

By the end of the week, Ed was ready to take back up his drinking habit. He didn't know how much more he could handle. He had been so reliant of his alcohol while Clementine was missing that he found it hard to cope without it. Especially on days like today…

"What do you mean, you don't have any leads?" Diana demanded of the detective. "My daughter was missing for four years and you're telling me you don't know who snatched her out of her backyard."

"Ma'am, if you could calm down…" The detective spoke in a gentle voice.

"I won't calm down. How do we know this person isn't still looking for her?"

"If you see anyone act suspicious around her, you can report it right away. But as of now, we have no idea who took her. We have absolutely nothing. For all we know, her kidnappers could be out of the state, but the family who found her says she was already in Georgia when he picked her up." The detective explained.

"I want to talk to them." Diana said. "What's their number? Do you have a phone number for them?"

The detective sighed. "Unfortunately, they were heading to Florida-"

"I don't give a damn if they were heading to Mars! If they know what happened to my daughter, if they know anything, I want to know. I want to talk to them… I'll go to Florida myself if I have to."

"Diana, calm down. This isn't helping…" Ed said.

"Duck..." Clementine muttered.

"What's that, baby?" Ed raised a brow.

The girl however, turned her attention back to her drawings.

"I apologize, but there's nothing we can do at the time." The detective said. "Your daughter refuses to say a word to any of the investigators and we have no leads at all."

"I want to see the person -or people who stole my child from me put in jail." Diana said desperately.

"We're on your side one hundred percent. Once we find those responsible, justice will be serve, but as of now, we can't help you any further."

Diana shook her head, a frown on her lips. "You people gave up on my daughter as soon as she went missing."

The detective frowned at that. "Ma'am-"

"You couldn't find her for years, and now you have no leads. You don't care." Diana said.

"Diana, stop. This is ridiculous." Ed said.

"You don't even talk, Ed, because you gave up on her too!" Diana snapped before standing up. "Come on, Clem."

Clementine quickly stood as well and walked after her mother.

Ed sighed. "We appreciate the help." He said to the detective.

"Of course, we'll do whatever we can. If we find any information we'll let you know." The detective said.

"Thank you." Ed said before standing. He headed out the door and to the car where his family was.

Ed got into the driver's seat and spoke, "Way to make a scene."

"Oh, don't you start." Diana said.

"Those people are doing what they can. You can't blow up on them because Clementine won't talk."

"Don't turn this on my daughter." Diana said.

"I'm not saying anything negative, Diana." Ed groaned. "Why are you always getting so defensive?"

"When it's about Clementine, I'm going to get defensive." Diana said.

"You don't need to defend my own child from me!" Ed retorted.

Clementine covered her ears as her parents argued.

"Clearly I do. Because you're not on my side. You're on their side. They said give up on our kid and you were fine that. Not they're saying they don't know who took her and you're fine with that." Diana said.

"I'm not fine with it." Ed argued. "I just know that yelling and screaming about it won't help anything. It's not going to make a difference."

"Stop…" Clementine mumbled.

The two adults continued arguing until their daughter loudly exclaimed, "STOP FIGHTING!"

A loud noise hit their ears as the back tire blew out.

The car swerved out of control. Ed quickly counter steered to regain control. Hitting the break, he slowed down and managed to pull the vehicle over onto the side of the road.

"Damn it, Clem!" The man snapped causing his daughter to flinch. "Are you trying to kill us?!"

"Don't yell at her!" Diana said.

"She could've killed us, Diana." Ed huffed. He got out of the vehicle and went to survey the damage.

The rear tire was completely torn to shreds.

Ed shook his head. He couldn't believe it. The day was going from bad to worse.

He walked back to the front seat.

"How bad is it?" Diana asked.

"The tire is destroyed…" Ed said. "I'm going to have to change the tire."

Fortunately, they had a spar in the trunk.

"I'm sorry…" Clementine said.

"You should be…" Ed muttered.

"Ed, don't do that to her. She didn't mean it." Diana said.

"You need to learn to control whatever that is. Otherwise, someone's going to end up dead." Ed said.

Clementine frowned, fighting tears that wanted to fall.

"Stop it!" Diana said. "Don't listen to him, Clem. Daddy's just having a bad day."

Ed didn't say a word.

Clementine and Diana got out the car as Ed went to replace the busted tire with the spare.

The family was silent the entire time. That silence didn't break after the tire was finally switched, or during the ride home.

* * *

Night had fallen, dinner was over, and with the family feeling exhausted they decided to turn in early.

"How about you sleep in your room tonight?" Diana suggested to her daughter.

Clementine quickly shook her head. "I…I don't want to…"

Diana was shocked to hear her daughter utter a complete sentence. "You don't want to?"

Clementine shook her head.

"Why not, Clem?" Diana asked.

Clementine's response was a shrug. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Well, maybe you should try. If you have a bad dream you can come sleep with mommy." Diana said.

"No…" Clementine said.

"Okay, sweetie." Diana sighed. Since Clementine had gotten home the child refused to step foot into her bedroom. Diana couldn't really blame her though, considering Diana had refused to enter that room for so long when Clementine went missing. "Get your pajamas on, okay?"

Clementine wasted no time in changing her clothes.

Ed had opted to sleep on the couch, which left an extra spot in the bed. Diana figured she might as well let Clementine sleep in the room.

Once the child was in her pajamas, Diana tucked the little girl into bed. "Alright… Are we reading a story tonight, or are you too tired?"

Clementine shook her head, "No story…"

"Okay." Diana said, figuring her daughter was exhausted from the day's events.

"Mommy…" Clementine called quietly.

"Yes?"

"Daddy is… mad?" The child asked.

"No, baby. He's not mad." Diana said. She felt happy to hear Clementine speak more than just one worded sentences, even if she wasn't speaking much. "Clem… Do you… Do you know what happened to you?"

Clementine raised a brow.

"Do you know who took you? What did they want?" Diana asked.

"Took me?"

"Yes…" Diana said. "Who kidnapped you?"

A vision of herself being strapped to a bed, a strange device attached to her head, and a man's voice telling her to take deep breaths, flashed through her mind.

Clementine swallowed, wondering what the hell was going on. "I… don't know, mommy…" Clementine muttered honestly. "I can't remember."

"What can't you remember?" Diana inquired.

Clementine looked to the woman. She didn't know what to think. What was real and what was fake? She didn't remember being kidnapped or anything that everyone kept mentioning. She couldn't remember being taken to that lab. She remembered the apocalypse, which now seemed to never have happened. "I… can't remember anything." And that scared her.


	6. Chapter 6

"What do you mean you don't remember anything, baby?" Diana asked looking concerned.

"I… I don't remember… I'm sorry…" Clementine muttered.

"Don't be sorry… You did nothing wrong…" Diana said with a frown. "But can you tell mommy what you do remember? What's the last thing you remember, sweetie?"

Clementine was quiet for a moment. She remembered the walkers… She remembered being shot by Arvo… But should she tell her mother that?

The girl was hesitant to respond.

"It's okay to tell me, baby… I won't be mad at you…" Diana said.

"I... I don't remember much... " Clementine said. "I remember different things..."

"Like what, sweetie?" Diana asked.

"I… I remember the walkers…" Clementine said.

"Walkers?"

Clementine nodded. "Yes."

"What are those?" Diana asked.

Clementine was quiet for a while. She didn't know how he mother would react if she told her they were corpses that went around eating people.

"Clementine?" Diana called.

"I... I don't know if I can say..." Clementine mumbled.

"Please tell me, baby... I promise it will be alright..." Diana reassured the girl.

"And you won't think I'm... crazy?" Clementine asked.

"Of course not. I could never think you're crazy." Diana said. "What are... walkers?"

"Walkers are...the dead… Well... the undead…" Clementine said.

Diana furrowed her brows and asked, "Like a zombie?"

"Not LIKE a zombie, mommy. Walkers ARE zombies." Clementine said.

Diana furrowed her brows. "Clementine, baby…. That's not real. Zombies aren't real, and no other monsters are real either."

"Yes, they are, mommy." Clementine said. "They're real... You have to believe me..."

"They're not real, honey... That's stuff for scary movies..." Diana said.

Clementine shook her head. "The walkers are real. They're dangerous. They kill people… And then when you die, you become one of them, unless your brain is destroyed. You and daddy were walkers…"

Diana sent the child a look. "We were?"

"Yes… In Savannah…" Clementine said. "Sandra was too…"

Diana was quiet for a moment, not knowing how to respond. "Clementine, look at me… That scary monster stuff… it's all make believe… Now I don't want to hear you talk like that anymore, okay?"

Clementine frowned at that. She couldn't help but feel a bit hurt to know that her mother didn't believe her.

"Come on, time to get some sleep, baby…" Diana said.

"Okay…" Clementine mumbled laying back down.

The child closed her eyes and felt her mother plant a kiss against her cheek.

"I love you." Diana said.

Clementine gave a small smile. "I love you too, mommy…"

It didn't take long for the child to drift off after that.

Diana couldn't shake the concern she was feeling for her child. She only wished she knew what had happened to her daughter. Who had taken her little girl and why?

The woman recalled the panicked look on Clementine's babysitter, Sandra's face. She remembered how Ed had reacted, screaming loudly, something he never did, when Sandra told them she couldn't find Clementine. Diana remembered how her own heart felt as if it would explode from how fast it was pounding with each hour her child was missing, and she remembered feeling her heart break when the police told her they had no leads…

Now her daughter was back. That was what mattered most.

With a sigh Diana laid beside the sleeping child and allowed sleep to take her as well.

* * *

Diana didn't understand why her daughter refused to speak with any counselor they brought her to.

Diana huffed as she let herself and her daughter into the house. Ed was sitting on the couch, sipping some coffee and looking through a book. Clementine immediately scooped up the remote to turn on the television.

"Not now, baby. Go upstairs and play for a while. Daddy and I need to talk." Diana said.

Ed glanced up and asked, "Do we?"

"Yes. We do." Diana replied. "Go on, Clem."

Clementine looked a bit disappointed, but placed the remote down. "Okay…"

The child headed upstairs.

Ed looked to his wife, noticing her glum expression. "What's wrong?"

"I would have appreciated if you came with us today." Diana said.

"For what, Diana?" Ed asked. "It's always the same… She refuses to talk and they tell us to bring her back when she's ready to speak."

"You still could have come…" Diana said. "For support."

"She barely speaks more than two words at a time to us, how are we going to get her to talk to a counselor?" Ed sighed.

"She spoke to me last night." Diana said. "In full sentences."

"She did?" Ed looked surprised. "What did she say?"

"She was… talking strangely…" Diana replied. "She was talking about zombies…"

"Zombies?" Ed repeated.

"Yeah… She said we were zombies and that's what she remembers." Diana said. "She called them walkers."

"…She has an active imagination, Diana." Ed said, slightly taken aback by what he just heard.

"Are you sure about that? It just seems strange…" Diana said.

"Well, some kids just come up with the craziest things." Ed said back.

"I don't think she's just making stuff up, Ed. I think this is what she actually remembers…" Diana replied.

"What should we do then?" Ed asked.

"I want to find the people who found her." Diana said.

"Why?"

"They might know something…" Diana said.

"Like what?" Ed questioned. "The police don't know anything. Clementine doesn't even know anything. What makes you think some strangers will have any idea what's going on?"

"They found her. They have to at least know something…" Diana said.

"Diana, they found her wandering the streets…" Ed pointed out.

"That doesn't change the fact that they found her. I have to at least thank them for doing what the police couldn't do for four years." Diana said.

Ed let out a sigh as the woman walked to the kitchen. He knew his wife could be stubborn and would stop at nothing to find out what happened to little Clementine.

* * *

Clementine stayed at the top of the staircase to listen in on her parent's conversation. She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but she couldn't shake her curiosity.

The child couldn't help but wonder why she couldn't remember how she ended up in that lab. Nothing made sense to her, not anymore. She felt like she was losing her mind. And with everyone acting like she was crazy, she didn't know what to think.

The girl stood up and headed to her mother's room. She picked up her coloring book from the nightstand and flipped through it, coming to a page with the phone number that Duck had written down.

She took the coloring book and headed downstairs.

The living room was empty. Clementine figured that her father was in his office. She headed into the kitchen to find her mother sitting at the table and looking through a phone book.

"Mommy…" Clementine called to the woman.

"Mommy can't talk right now, Clementine…" Diana tried to wave her off.

"I want to show you something…" Clementine said.

Diana sighed and looked up. "What is it, Clem? Mommy is busy right now."

Clementine simply responded by placing the coloring book down.

Diana looked to the book. "That's a nice picture, baby girl… but-"

"No… Look." Clementine pointed to the phone number at the bottom corner of the page.

Diana looked to the number and raised a brow. "Whose number is that?"

"Call it." Clementine said.

"Call it?" Diana echoed with a curious expression on her face.

Clementine nodded.

Diana looked back to the number and slowly began to dial it.

The phone rang a few times before a woman picked up.

"Hello?" Came the voice over the phone.

"Hi… May I speak to…" Diana paused, glancing over to Clementine for a name.

"Katjaa." Clementine said.

Diana's eyes widened Katjaa was the woman who had found her daughter.

"May I speak to Katjaa?" Diana asked.

"This is Katjaa speaking." The woman said.

"Hi. My name is Diana. I believe you and your husband are the ones who found my daughter, Clementine." Diana said.

"Oh, yes! The child we brought to the police station?" Katjaa asked.

"That's right." Diana said.

"How is she?" Katjaa asked.

"She's doing okay… Her injuries are healing…" Diana said. "I wanted to thank you for finding her."

"Of course." Katjaa said. "We weren't expecting to see a little girl stumble out into the street in the middle of the night, but we're glad she's safe."

"Thanks to you." Diana said. "I would love to do something to show my appreciation."

"Oh, there's no need for that. We're just happy that she's back with her family." Katjaa replied.

"Yes. We're forever grateful…" Diana said. "But do you mind if I ask a few questions?"

"I don't mind at all." Katjaa said.

"You say you found her wandering the streets… Do you have any idea where she was coming from?" Diana asked.

"Unfortunately, we have no idea where she was coming from. We found her and she seemed out of it." Katjaa said. "She didn't say much either…"

"So, you didn't see anyone with her?" Diana asked.

"No one at all…" Katjaa said. "Sorry, I don't have any information…"

"It's fine… I really appreciate you for finding her…" Diana said. "Have a good day…"

"Who are you talking to?" Came a young boy's voice.

"Clementine's mother. The little girl we found." Katjaa said.

"Oh! The one with the magic powers? Let me talk to her!" The boy exclaimed.

"Duck, calm down… I'll ask…" Katjaa said. She then addressed Diana, "Would Clementine happen to be available to talk?"

"Actually, yeah…" Diana said. "Who is that?"

"My son. The two of them got along well." Katjaa said.

"That's good." Diana said, glad Clementine had a friend even if it was long distance.

Diana handed Clementine the phone and they heard Katjaa do the same to Duck.

"Hey, Clem! I was waiting for you to call me." Duck said. "What took you so long?"

"We called now." Clementine replied.

"Yeah, but you could've called sooner." Duck said. "So, did you ask your mom if you could visit us yet?"

"Not yet…" Clementine said. "It's so far…"

"So… Once you come we'll have all sorts of fun! Just ask." Duck said.

"But-"

"Gotta go, dad is going to give me a driving lesson!" Duck interrupted before Clementine could get another word out. "Ask, okay?"

"Oh no he's not!" Katjaa exclaimed.

The phone hung up before Clementine could say anything else.

Clementine placed the phone down and looked to her mother. "Mommy… Can we got see Duck?"

"In Florida? No, honey. We don't have time for that…" Diana said.

Clementine frowned. "But why?"

"Because we don't…" Diana said. "You have all these appointments and school-"

* * *

" _She's a very extraordinary girl. Her intelligence excels above her classmates, even children older than her." Mrs. Moore said._

 _Clementine kept her focus on her drawing as her teacher, Mrs. Moore spoke to a man in a lab coat._

" _Well, I'd like to talk to her… Run a few tests, if that's alright…" The man said._

" _What kind of tests?" Mrs. Moore asked._

" _We just want to perform some academic test, to see just how smart this young lady is." The man said. "Nothing that will harm her."_

" _Okay then…" Mrs. Moore said. The woman led the man over to the child. "Clementine, this is Mr. Hendrick. He's a scientist._

 _Clementine looked up shyly. "Hi…"_

" _Hey there, sweetie. Can you tell me how old you are?" Mr. Hendrick asked._

" _Seven… and a half." Clementine answered._

" _And your name is Clementine?" Mr. Hendrick said._

" _Yes…" Clementine confirmed._

" _Well, Clementine, do you mind doing a few tests with me?" Mr. Hendrick asked the child._

 _Clementine raised a brow. "Like a math test?"_

" _Just like that." Mr. Hendrick said._

 _Clementine furrowed her brows. "I don't like math too much…"_

" _That's okay, we'll just see what you can do." Mr. Hendrick offered the child his hand._

 _Clementine slowly took it. "Okay…_

* * *

"Clementine?" Diana called, "You okay, baby?"

Clementine shook herself out of her daze. "Wha… What?" She stammered.

"You zoned out there for a minute…" Diana said.

"I… I'm fine…" Clementine said.

"You sure?" Diana asked.

"Yeah…" The child said, taking a deep breath. Was that a memory she just had? If so why didn't she remember that until now?

"Alright…. Look, if you really want to go to Florida… I'll think about it…" Diana said.

"Really?" Clementine asked.

"I'll talk it over with, daddy. But you have to promise you'll talk to your counselor next week." Diana said.

"There's nothing to talk about, mommy." Clementine sighed.

"Just tell them about those things you mentioned last night…" Diana told her.

"The walkers?" Clementine asked.

Diana gave a slow nod. "Yeah… Tell them about the walkers, and anything else you want to tell them…"

"Okay… Like what?" Clementine asked.

"Anything you can remember… How you're feeling. Just be honest with them." Diana said.

"Okay, mommy." Clementine said.

"That's my girl."

* * *

As promised, Clementine spoke to her counselor about what she could, she saved some details knowing that her words wouldn't be believed anyway.

The woman listened and took notes. Clementine felt uncomfortable as she wondered what the woman could be writing.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Clementine inquired.

The counselor looked up. "Come again?"

"Mommy thinks I'm crazy… And I'm sure you do too." Clementine said.

"What makes you say that?" The woman asked.

"Why else would she bring me here?" Clementine asked back.

"She worried, honey…" Was the response.

"There's nothing to be worried about…" Clementine said. "I'm fine…"

"She's worried about you." The counselor said.

"Is daddy?" Clementine asked. "He barely talks to me… I don't know if he loves me anymore."

"Of course he does." The counselor said. "He's worried too."

"He gets mad when I do… things…" Clementine muttered.

"What kind of things?" The woman asked.

"Like…. Move things… or break things…. I don't do it on purpose. It happens by accident…" Clementine said.

The counselor raised a brow. "How do you break things by accident?"

"With my mind… Sometimes it just happens." Clementine said.

The child watched the unconvinced look on the woman's face.

"…Can you show me?" The woman asked.

"I can try…" Clementine said.

"Alright… You see this pen?" The woman placed it on the table. "Can you try to move it."

Clementine gave a nod. She focused on the pen, trying to get it to move. It didn't.

The woman watched for a while then hummed.

"It's not working…" Clementine sighed.

"I see…" The woman picked the pen up and wrote something down.

"What are you writing?" The child asked.

"Oh, just taking notes…" The counselor said.

"You think I'm crazy…" Clementine said again. "I'm telling you I'm not…"

"I never said you were…" The woman said.

"Then what are you writing?" Clementine demanded.

"I told you. I'm just taking notes." The woman said.

"I want to leave…" Clementine said. "I'm done talking…"

"Okay… That's okay…" The woman said. "Let's go see your parents…"

The woman stood and Clementine followed her into the waiting room.

"Anything new?" Ed asked.

"Actually, I think we're making good progress." The woman replied. "Clementine told me some interesting things today…"

"Did she now?" Ed asked.

"Yes. I think our next meeting should include the entire family." The woman said.

"Alright." Diana said.

"Wonderful." The woman said. "See you next week."

The family walked out of the building.

"Do you think all these appointments are necessary?" Ed inquired.

"Yes, they are, Ed." Diana said. "Clementine needs them."

"Do I?" Clementine asked. "I'm not crazy, mommy. I'm not…"

"I never said you were, baby. But these appointments are good for you." Diana said

Clementine frowned. "Okay..."

"So… you spoke today?" Diana asked.

"Yeah…" Clementine said.

Diana gave a small smile. "That's good… that's really good."

"Now we need to focus on getting you to control that ability of yours." Ed said.

"It doesn't work…" Clementine replied.

"What do you mean?" Ed asked

"I tried to do it for the lady, but it wouldn't work…" Clementine said.

Ed paused. "Wait… what did you try to do?"

"Move the pen for her." Clementine said.

"Why?" Ed asked.

"Because she didn't believe me…" Clementine said. "And now she thinks I made it up…"

"Clementine, listen, you can't tell anyone about your abilities." Ed said.

"But why not?" The girl asked.

"Because… Because people get scared when they don't understand things… And when people are scared, they can get dangerous." Ed responded.

"But mommy told me to talk to her." Clementine said.

"Not about that, honey…" Diana said. "That's something you can't tell other people about…"

"Well… you told me to be honest, mommy." Clementine said.

"I know, sweetie, but we don't talk about that… People won't understand." Diana said.

"I don't even understand…" Clementine said honestly. "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah, baby… Let's go home…" Diana said.

The family headed to their car in silence.

Clementine couldn't help but question her own sanity after everything that had happened these past weeks.

She realized her parents acted as if her new powers weren't a surprise, yet they wanted to keep them a secret. Clementine wondered if perhaps they knew something that she didn't know. She'd have to question them.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help!_**

* * *

"Can't we please go?" Clementine asked.

Diana sighed. "Clementine, we're not going all the way to Florida."

"Why not?" Clementine frowned.

"It's a far trip. And you just got home not long ago. You're not completely settled in here yet." Diana said.

"Duck and I haven't seen each other in so long. Not since the walkers." Clementine said.

"What did I tell you about talking like that? Monsters aren't real." Diana said.

"They are, mommy. I've seen them." Clementine replied.

"Sweetheart, just because you _think_ you've seen monsters… or whatever you want to call them, doesn't mean you really have." Diana said. "There's no such thing as monsters."

"Why don't you believe me? The walkers killed people. They killed you and daddy!" Clementine said.

"That's not true, baby. Daddy and I are fine." Diana said. "Eat your supper, please."

Clementine looked from her mother to her father. "Do you believe me, daddy?" She asked.

For a moment Ed didn't respond.

"Eat your supper, Clem." Diana said again.

"You don't… right?" Clementine looked disappointed. "You think I'm a liar…"

"Honey, it's not that we think you're lying…" Diana said.

"Then why don't you believe me?" Clementine asked.

The parents exchanged looks before Ed said, "We do believe you, Clem…"

Diana sent him a look before looking back to Clementine. "Sometimes… Sometimes your imagination can play tricks on you and make you think something happened when it didn't. We believe you _think_ the walkers were there… but they're not real, honey."

There was that word again. _Think…_ Did they really think she was making everything up?

Clementine shook her head, there was no way she imagined all that. The girl looked down, her head was pounding. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

"Can I be excused?" Clementine asked in a small voice.

"You haven't touched your food, Clementine." Diana observed. "I want you to eat some supper."

"Let her go, Diana." Ed said.

Diana sent him a look and protested. "But-"

"Go ahead, Clem." Ed said, cutting Diana off.

"Thank you." Clementine quickly left the room and headed upstairs.

"Why did you let her go, Ed?" Diana asked. "She hasn't even finished dinner."

"This is a lot for her to deal with. She needs time." Ed said.

"I guess you're right…" Diana said. "I just wish I knew what to do…"

"Telling her we don't believe her isn't going to help…" Ed said.

"Ed, are you honestly telling me you believe that… about the monsters?" Diana said.

"I… I don't know. She could be making it all up… or not…" Ed said.

"Ed, you know how kids are. They imagine the craziest things." Diana asked.

"You're right… Some kids have wild imaginations, but Clementine couldn't have made all this up." Ed said.

"Okay… Let's say she didn't make it up… She can't just talk about this to anyone." Diana said.

"You're right… Look, we'll figure this out." Ed said. "She's still adapting to being home and normal life."

"She still hasn't said a word about what happened when she was kidnapped."

"She's probably traumatized, Diana… She's been through a lot." Ed said.

"She says she doesn't remember what happened." Diana said.

"Maybe she doesn't remember. She probably blocked it out…Or she just doesn't want to talk about it." Ed said. "She needs time, Diana. It hasn't been long since she's got home."

"I know…" Diana agreed.

"She still needs time to adjust."

"I think we all do…" Diana said.

* * *

It had been a while since Clementine had headed upstairs, Diana decided she should check on the child.

She opened the door to her bedroom and she spotted the child sitting on the bed, once again drawing.

"Hey, baby." Diana greeted. "You okay?"

Clementine didn't look up as she answered, "I don't know…"

"Want to talk about it?" Diana asked.

The response was a shrug.

Diana walked over and took a seat on the bed by the girl. "Sweetie, talk to mommy. What's bothering you?"

"…Everything…" Clementine said. "Everything's wrong?"

"What do you mean…?"

When the girl didn't respond, Diana sighed. "Alright… You don't have to talk if you don't want to… How about you get ready for bed, sweetie."

"Okay…" Clementine agreed. The child placed her pencil down and went to go wash up and change into her pajamas.

Diana was left to her own musing. She wanted to help her daughter… but she didn't understand what was going on with the child. What had happened to her baby?

When Clementine finally returned to the room almost a half-hour later, Diana was still lost in her thoughts.

It wasn't until Clementine said, "Mommy, are you okay?" that the woman realized the child was back.

"I'm fine, baby girl…"

"Okay… Good." Clementine said.

"Want to try to sleep in your own room tonight?" Diana suggested.

"Do I have to?" Clementine questioned.

"Why don't you want to sleep in there?" Diana asked back.

"I don't want to sleep alone." Clementine said.

"Why not, sweetie?"

"I… I just don't like sleeping alone, mommy." Clementine said. She was scared that she would wake up and her parents would be gone.

"Are you scared you'll have a nightmare?" Diana asked.

"…Kind of." Clementine said. She wasn't really, after practically living in a nightmare for all those years, she was used to bad dreams.

"You won't, sweetie. It's okay." Diana said. "And if you do, you can call daddy or I and we'll make sure you're okay."

Clementine shook her head. "I don't want to, mommy…"

"Come on, baby. I think you can try it for one night." Diana said. "If you have a bad dream you can come right back in mommy's room. It will be alright."

"Okay…" Clementine mumbled. "Can you stay with me until I fall asleep though?"

"Of course, sweetie." Diana said.

The two made their way to Clementine's bedroom. The child was hesitant to enter.

"It's alright." Diana reassured the young girl.

Slowly Clementine opened the door and they entered the room.

Diana waited for the child to climb into bed. She took a seat at the edge.

Clementine laid back as her mother pulled the blankets over her.

"How are you feeling, baby?" Diana asked, hoping Clementine would give her a less vague response that what she had given earlier.

"I'm okay…" Clementine said.

"Are you sure? You can talk to me about anything..." Diana said.

"I don't know what to talk about…" Clementine admit.

"Anything you want. Anything at all." Diana said.

"Everything is so weird right now… I can't even understand what's going on, so I doubt you or daddy will." Clementine replied.

"Maybe we can all try to understand together."

Clementine paused for a moment before saying, "…Maybe… I can't talk if you don't believe me… I don't want you to think I'm crazy anymore…"

"I don't think you're crazy, baby." Diana said.

"But isn't that why you take me to the counselor?" Clementine inquired.

"I take you to therapy to help you. Your counselor is someone to talk to when you don't want to talk to mommy or daddy." Diana explained.

"If I don't want to talk to you guys about something, why would I want to talk to a counselor?" Clementine asked.

"I know it's hard to talk right now, but it's not good for you to repress your feelings…" Diana said. "It's important to talk about how you feel."

"This is confusing…" The child suddenly remarked.

"What is?" Diana asked.

"When I talked to the counselor, you told me to be honest, but then you told me not to tell her about the walkers." Clementine said.

"Only because… we don't know how people will react to that information." Diana said.

"The same way you are. They won't believe me. Or worse, they'll think I'm crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy, Clementine. And… I do believe you." Diana said.

"You do?" Clementine wasn't convinced.

"Of course, I do." Diana said. "Now try to get some rest. You got a doctor's appointment tomorrow."

"With an actual doctor?"

"Yeah. We got to make sure you're healthy and that that gunshot wound is healing okay." Diana said. "Does it hurt?"

"Kind of… Not too bad though." Clementine said.

"Tomorrow the doctor will make sure you're okay." Diana said. "Maybe give you some better pain medicine too."

"Can't you do that? You're a doctor, mommy." Clementine said.

"Well… mommy can make mistakes sometimes. I haven't been to work for a long time now." Diana said.

"Because of me?"

"Your father and I were both so worried when you went missing, we wanted to put all our efforts into finding you…" Diana said.

Clementine frowned at that and said, "I'm sorry. You quit your job because of me."

"It's not your fault. Besides, you're more important than any job." Diana told the girl.

Clementine gave a small smile. "Thanks…" She paused for a moment before asking, "Are you going to go back?"

"I… don't know. I'll think about it." Diana said.

"I think you should. You were a really good doctor." Clementine said.

"Thank you, sweetie." Diana kissed the child's cheek. "Now enough chatter. It's bedtime."

"Okay… Goodnight, mommy." Clementine said.

"Night, baby."

Clementine laid back and slowly let her eyes flutter closed.

* * *

"On the left." Came a familiar voice. "Slow down!"

"Shut up!" She recognized that voice as well.

The sound of the bickering caused Clementine to stir from her sleep. "Mommy?" She called out.

The girl's eyes fluttered open and the child winced in pain. Her hand went to her wounded shoulder as she groaned.

She looked around, realizing she was in a truck and Kenny and Jane.

Kenny was driving and Jane was holding AJ. The two adults were arguing, but their attention was grabbed when Clementine asked, "Where am I?"

"She's awake!" Jane said, glancing to the back. She offered a small smile to Clementine as she said, "Hey, you."

"Clem! Oh, thank God." Kenny exclaimed.

"You passed out from the shock." Jane said.

"We've been worried as hell." Kenny said.

"Where are we?" Clementine asked. She felt like she could panic. She remembered falling asleep in her home, where her parents were… So how the hell did she end up in the truck? Was it all a dream?

"Been drivin' a few hours now." Kenny answered.

"We had to run the truck to keep you warm." Jane said. "How do you feel?"

"It hurts." Clementine said honestly as she kept her hand over her wound. It hurt as if it had only happened recently.

"Couldn't find the bullet. Must've gone clean through. It'll burn a while, but you'll be fine." Jane told her.

"Those son of bitches… I mean, I expected it from the Russian, but Mike? I could tell they were working on somethin'." Kenny said.

"I didn't think they'd go that far." Jane mumbled.

"Yeah, well who would steal our food and shoot a kid? We never should've thrown in with trash like that in the first place." Kenny grumbled.

"What happened to them?" Clementine asked.

"They took off on foot." Jane informed.

"Didn't get this puppy, thanks to you." Kenny added.

Clementine didn't respond. She didn't know what to make of all this. Everything was so confusing. It was making her head hurt.

"Now that Clem's awake, we should talk about where we're going." Jane said.

"We're headed north." Kenny replied.

"What, to find "Wellington?" Jane scoffed.

"You sure talk alotta shit. You got a better plan?" Kenny huffed.

Clementine tried her best to block the two out as they started arguing. She was trying to make sense of what was happening.

"Please stop... Please stop argue..." Clementine pleaded.

They didn't.

"Stop it... Stop it." Clementine brought her hand to her head, trying to sooth the ache.

Her little voice was drowned out by the bickering adults shooting childish insults at each other.

Her head was pounding and Kenny and Jane kept at it until the child screamed, "SHUT UP!" and one of the back windows shattered.

Both adults fell quiet, mouths open in shock. Kenny quickly pulled the car to a stop and Jane and him exchanged looks as Clementine simply muttered, "Thank you."

* * *

"Clementine, it's time to wake up." Diana said.

Clementine gave no response.

Diana gave the little girl a light shake.

Still nothing. Clementine was out cold.

"Wake up, baby. We got to get ready for your appointment. We don't want to be late."

Diana felt a wave of concern flood through her. She couldn't get the child to wake up.

The more she tried the more worried she felt. Concern quickly turned into panic. Diana rushed downstairs to find Ed asleep on the couch.

Without hesitation, she started to shake him away. "Ed!"

Ed jumped up, startled by the sudden call of his name. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's Clementine." Diana said.

Ed's face took a worried look. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"She's not waking up! Ed, she won't wake up!" Diana exclaimed.


	8. Chapter 8

_**Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help.**_

* * *

When their child wouldn't wake from her state of sleep it was hard for Diana and Ed not to panic. After checking the young girl for injuries, they found nothing but old scars. They wanted to convince themselves that the girl was fine and just exhausted, but her lack of response concerned both parents.

Struggling to remain calm, Diana had phone the pediatrician that Clementine had been scheduled to see.

The doctor asked if they would be able to bring the child in or if they wanted him to come to them.

Diana figured she was too panicked at the moment to be able to drive. She asked the doctor to come to the house and make sure her daughter was okay.

"Is she breathing?" The doctor asked.

"Yes. She's breathing fine." Diana said. "Her breathing is normal, heartrate's good, strong pulse… I don't know what's wrong."

"She hasn't shown any signs of sickness or anything?" The doctor questioned.

"No. She was fine last night, but when I tried to wake her up this morning she wouldn't respond." Diana said.

The doctor hummed. "I'll be there as quick as I can. I'll see what I can do for her. If her condition worsens I recommend that you take her to the hospital."

"What should I do now?" Diana asked.

"Just monitor any changes and if you see anything that concerns you write it down." The doctor said.

"Okay…" Diana mumbled. "Please come help my baby…"

"I'll be there as soon as possible." The doctor said.

"Thank you." Diana hung up the phone with shaking hands.

She made her way back to her daughter's room to check in on the child. "Any change?"

Ed sighed and shook his head. "She's still unresponsive. It... It's almost like she's in a coma or something."

"Don't say that. She's going to be fine." Diana said, shooting him a look.

"I hope she's fine too, Diana. But she doesn't seem fine to me." Ed said, before softening his tone. "I'm worried, okay?"

"So am I…" Diana said. "I just don't understand how or why this is happening."

"Maybe she just exhausted. We don't know…" Ed said. "I just don't think it's normal for a child to randomly slip in a coma."

"We don't know if she's in a coma." Diana said, anxious rubbing her hands together. She was just denying it, her child showed clear signs that she was in a coma.

"If she was just sleeping, she would've at least respond. Even if it was just a bit of movement. She hasn't reacted to anything, Diana." Ed pointed out.

"I called the doctor. He's on his way, we'll just have to wait for him to get here." Diana said.

"What did he say we should do?" Ed asked.

"He said to monitor her, and make sure she keeps breathing." Diana said.

"I think we should take her to the hospital." Ed said.

"No…"

"Why not?" Ed questioned.

"We spent four years hearing nothing but bad news about our daughter, Ed. I don't want to take her to the hospital just to hear some more." Diana said. "We'll let the doctor check her out first, and if he thinks we should take her to the hospital, we will."

"…I guess that's fair enough." Ed said. "You don't have to go if you don't think you can... I'll take her myself if I have to."

Diana shook her head. "If the doctor tells us to take her to the hospital, I'll go. I want to be there for Clem. I want to be the mother I haven't been able to be for four years."

"Alright…" Ed understood that this was hard on his wife. It was hard on him too. He sighed as he felt a sudden urge to get a drink.

* * *

"You said she's been like this all morning?" The doctor questioned as he looked Clementine over.

"Yes. She was fine when I put her to bed yesterday." Diana explained. "She was good the entire day. Everything was normal with her yesterday."

"Alright, and you checked her for injuries?" The doctor asked.

Diana nodded. "She had a few injuries that are in the process of healing. She was shot a few weeks ago."

"Where?" The doctor asked.

Diana showed him the bandaged wound.

The doctor asked Diana to remove the child's shirt so he could check the wound.

Diana did so. As they removed the bandage from the injury, Diana was surprised to see fresh blood seeping from it.

"You said this happened a few weeks ago?" The doctor asked.

"Y-Yes. I check it every day. It was healing." Diana said.

The doctor frowned, "It looks new…" He noted. He applied pressure against the bleeding wound. After several moments the blood flow had slowed enough for him to let up the pressure. He carefully cleaned and bandaged the wound.

"Could that be the reason she hasn't woken up?" Ed inquired.

"It could be…" The doctor said. "It probably is in your best interest to take her to the hospital. I've noticed a few injuries on her, and they're better suited to care for her than you'll be at home."

"Alright…" Ed sighed.

"You said she was shot?" The doctor asked again.

"Yes. It happened around the time we got her back." Ed replied.

"She has a pretty nasty scar on her arm here. Any idea what happened?" The doctor said.

"She said a dog bit her…" Diana replied.

"I see…" The doctor hummed thoughtfully. "My suggestion is to take her to the hospital as soon as possible. She appears to be in a coma, but they'll know what to do."

* * *

Kenny struggled for words for a few moments, not knowing what to say. "Wha… What the hell was that?" He finally managed to get out.

Jane didn't respond, her eyes still wide in surprise.

The looked back to the little girl in the back seat.

"Did… Did you do that?" Kenny asked.

"Don't be stupid… How could she?" Jane asked.

"I… I don't know, she must've hit it or something." Kenny said.

"She didn't hit it." Jane shook her head. "It wouldn't have broke like that."

"Well she did something... Right, Clem?" Kenny's voice sounded almost nervous as he asked this.

Clementine shrugged in response.

"That was just too perfectly time with her yell for her not to have done it…" Kenny said.

"Just leave her alone. We were probably giving her a headache." Jane sighed. "Why don't you try to get some rest, Clem?"

"Okay…" Clementine said. She just hoped they would quit with their arguing.

* * *

The girl leaned back in her seat, ignoring the pain in her shoulder. She slowly allowed her eyes to flutter shut.

Upon reaching the hospital the child was taken to a room. She was once again checked for injures. The doctors rebandaged her wounds and rested the little girl on a bed.

They confirmed to the two distraught parents that Clementine was indeed in a coma.

Diana felt her heart drop. She couldn't believe this was happening.

Once the child was setting into her hospital room, hooked to machines to monitor her vital signs, the doctors left.

Diana took a seat next to her daughter.

Ed placed a comforting had on his wife's shoulder. "She's going to be alright, hon. They'll figure it out…"

"No, Ed… She's not alright…" Diana said with a frown. "My poor baby…"

Diana took her child's little hand into her own.

"Can you hear me, baby? Mommy needs you to wake up, open your eyes Clem." Diana pleaded.

* * *

" _Can you hear me, baby? Mommy needs you to wake up. Open your eyes, Clem…"_

"Mommy!" Clementine shot upright, her eyes wide. She looked around and quickly realized she was still in the truck with Kenny and Jane, however the two were no longer arguing.

"You alright, Clem?" Kenny glanced back at her. "You have a bad dream, darlin'?"

Clementine didn't know how to answer that. She hadn't had a bad dream. She had heard her mother calling out to her. Instead the child asked another question. "Where are we going?"

"Anywhere safe." Jane said.

"Wellington." Kenny said.

"Why are you so set on a place that doesn't exist?" Jane inquired in clear annoyance.

"It does exist. I know for a fact." Kenny stated.

"And how exactly do you know?" Jane questioned.

"I just do." Kenny replied.

"Please!" Clementine exclaimed. "Don't… fight…"

Kenny and Jane both fell quiet. The seemed to watch her with wary expressions.

Clementine felt her heart clench, were they scared of her? They didn't know about her new powers, but they were suspicious that she had been responsible for that shattered window?

She didn't understand. She just wanted everything to go back to normal.

She wanted to go _home…_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help._**

* * *

It bothered her, feeling that her own friends were scared of her. What was wrong with her? Was she some kind of monster?

She didn't understand how she got these strange powers or why? Had she always had them? Why were they just now showing and how come she couldn't control them?

The child bit her lower lip as she glanced over to Kenny who was silently driving. "Kenny…"

"…Yeah, Clem?" His voice almost sounded nervous.

Clementine frowned at that. "Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be?" Kenny asked back.

Clementine paused for a moment, not sure what to say. "I… was just wondering."

"…Ain't nothing for me to be mad at." Kenny said.

Silence fell between them. Jane's soft breathing could be heard as the woman slept in the passenger's seat.

"Clem…?" Kenny called.

"Yes?"

"I got a question… This is gonna sound strange, but…. Did you break the window?" Kenny asked.

"I… don't know…" Clementine said with a tiny shrug.

"Darling, you can tell me. I promise I won't be mad at you…" Kenny said.

"I… I think I did…" Clementine replied.

"Did you hit it?" Kenny asked.

Clementine frowned and shook her head.

"How'd you break it, hon?" Kenny questioned, looking confused.

"I don't know how…. I just… know I did." Clementine answered.

"Without your hands?" Kenny asked.

Clementine nodded. "…With my mind…"

* * *

Diana sighed as she held her young daughter's small hand in her own. She felt on the verge of tears. She had just gotten her daughter back and now the poor child was in some type of coma.

"I… brought you some food…" Ed spoke as he entered the room.

"I'm not hungry." Diana said.

"Diana, you have to eat something…" Ed said to his wife.

Diana didn't respond.

"What are you going to do? Starve yourself until she wakes up?" Ed asked.

"I'm fine… I'm not leaving my baby's side until she opens her eyes…" Diana replied.

"Who knows how long that will be… We don't know when she'll wake up… or if she'll wake up…" Ed muttered the last part.

Diana shot him a look. "Don't say that! Don't you ever say that."

"Diana, this is hard on me too… But you can't sit here and neglect your health. You have to take care of yourself." Ed said.

"My daughter comes first. I'm taking care of her. I missed two years of her life… Two years that I'll never get back, Ed." Diana said.

"You're not the only one. She's my daughter too, Diana…" Ed responded.

"I know that…" Diana said.

"So stop acting like you're the only one who cares about her. This hurts me too. If I could wake her up right now I would, but I can't." Ed said.

"Ed…" Diana frowned.

Ed just shook his head. "You don't know how useless I feel right now…."

Diana lowered her gaze, keeping a grip on her child's hand. "I'm sorry…"

"I… I think I need some air…" Ed said, placing his wife's food on the table before walking from the room.

* * *

"You… You broke the window, with your mind?" Kenny repeated the child's words, trying to process them.

Clementine nodded.

"Clem, are you being serious? You're not playing pretend, right?" Kenny asked.

"I'm not playing…" Clementine said. "I… can do other things too."

"Like what?"

"Like… move things without touching them…" Clementine said.

Kenny was quiet for a moment and Clementine felt a knot of nervousness in her stomach as she awaited his reaction, almost regretting telling him. "That's fucking amazing…"

Clementine was surprised by his response. "Wh-What?"

"This is amazing, Clem…. How long could you do this?" Kenny asked.

"I… I don't know…" Clementine said.

"What's amazing?" Jane asked as she stirred awake.

"Her powers." Kenny said.

Jane groaned at that. "Grow up…."

"She broke that window, Jane." Kenny said.

"Don't be ridiculous." Jane said.

"I'm not…" Kenny stated. "She's like a secret weapon…"

Clementine frowned at the word. "Weapon….?"

"You don't know how much you could do with a power like this." Kenny said.

"Kenny, she doesn't have powers. She's just a fucking kid." Jane said.

"Yeah, a kid that can break windows with her mind." Kenny replied.

"I'll believe when I see it." Jane said.

"You did see it." Kenny huffed.

"No… Anything could've shattered that window. The wind could've blown a rock or something at it." Jane said.

Kenny raised a brow at that. "That makes less sense than what I'm saying…"

"Alright then… You really have some magical powers, Clem?" Jane asked the girl.

"I… guess so…" Clementine shrugged.

Jane glanced back at her. "Then prove it."

"What?" Clementine asked.

"Prove it." Jane said once more.

* * *

Ed stood outside for a while. He tried to shake off the urge he was feeling to go get a drink. Stress was getting to him. He hated feeling like this.

He sighed. He needed to stay sober… For his daughter's sake. For Diana's sake…

He hadn't know how long had passed, but he decided to go for a drive. A while passed before he arrived at a bar. He sat in the parking lot for a little while, telling himself just one wouldn't hurt.

He quickly started the car and drove off. As much as he wanted a drink he had to resist the urge.

He drove around for a while before heading back to the hospital. He got out the vehicle and without a word he made his way into the hospital. He headed back to Clementine's room to see Diana still sitting beside little Clementine's unconscious form.

"Where were you?" Diana asked.

"Nowhere important…" Ed sighed.

"You didn't go drinking, did you?" Diana asked him, in a serious tone.

"I've been sober since Clem came home, you know that." Ed said.

Diana shook her head. "I don't know anything anymore…"

"You know me…" Ed said.

"Sometimes… Right now, I feel like I don't." Diana said.

Ed let out a sigh. "Look, hon, why don't you go home… Get some rest…."

The woman refused. "I can't rest… I just can't."

"Diana, you haven't gotten much sleep for the past two days…" Ed said.

"How can I sleep when my baby's like this…?" Diana said.

Ed sighed. "She's going to be alright, honey…"

"Do you really believe that?" Diana asked, recalling his words from earlier.

"...I do… Of course I do…" Ed said.

"You don't have to lie to me… I'm sure you believe that as much as you believed she was coming home…" Diana said.

Ed sighed. "Diana, don't say things like that."

Diana frowned. "I just want my baby to wake up."

"I do too…" Ed said as he pulled his wife into a hug. "But we're in this together, Diana. I promise."

* * *

"How… How do I prove it?" Clementine asked.

"I don't know. Do something amazing. Blow my mind." Jane said.

Clementine thought for a moment. "I don't know what to do…"

After a while Jane spoke, "I got an idea."

"What?" Clementine asked.

Jane looked over to Kenny. "Kenny, let go of the wheel…"

"What? Are you out of your damn mind?" Kenny grumbled, refusing to do so.

"Just do it…" Jane said. "I want to see if Clem can stop the car."

"W-What?" Clementine gasped.

The child was grateful when Kenny shook his head.

"That's not happening. I'm not putting the kids at risk." Kenny said.

"Fine… Whatever, don't start pissing your pants." Jane huffed.

Kenny didn't respond as he slowed the car to a stop.

"What are you doing?" Jane asked.

"Going to try to get more gas." Kenny told her. "We're running on fumes."

"You gonna take your human weapon with you?" Jane rolled her eyes.

"…I'm not a weapon…" Clementine muttered under her breath.

Kenny got out the car. "Stay here, Clem. Keep an eye on Alvie…"

Clementine just gave a nod.

Jane waited until the man was out of sight. "He seriously gets on my last nerve…"

"He's just trying to protect us…" Clementine said.

"He doesn't do the best job at protecting people. Hell, his whole family is gone. That speaks for itself." Jane said.

Clementine sent her a look. "He loved his family… He did his best."

"But that clearly wasn't enough…" Jane replied.

"What about you…? Didn't you lose your sister?" Clementine said.

"That was her choice, not mine. She wanted to be let go… It sucks, but I didn't fail at protecting her. She just gave up." Jane said.

"We've all lost people, Jane… It's a tough world out here." Clementine said.

"It never gets easier, kid." Jane said. "Anyway, you should give me a proper demonstration of your powers now…"

Clementine sighed at that. "Jane…"

"Here, take the baby…" Jane said.

Clementine frowned, but obliged. "What are you doing…?"

"Relax, you might want to buckle up for this." Jane said.

"J-Jane-"

Jane started the truck. Clementine's eyes widened as the woman hit the gas. The truck started moving at a fast pace.

"Jane! Jane, stop!" Clementine exclaimed, keeping a protective grip on AJ.

Jane removed her foot from the gas, but didn't hit the break to slow the vehicle. "You stop it, Clem! Do something!"

"J-Jane please!" Clementine exclaimed.

"We're gonna die, Clem!" Jane said. "Do something!"

Clementine felt tears spring into her eyes. AJ was wailing in her arms and the truck was getting closer and closer to the tree. "STOP!" The child screamed, screwing her eyes shut.

The truck froze, just inches away from the tree. Clementine whimpered a bit and slowly opened her eyes. The truck had stopped, but that wasn't the only thing. AJ seemed to have paused in the middle of his cries and Jane wasn't moving.

"Jane! W-What- What the hell were you thinking?!" Clementine asked.

No response. Not even a flinch from the woman.

The child furrowed her brows as a thought dawn on her. Had she somehow frozen time?


	10. Chapter 10

_**Short chapter, but I wanted to get an update out.**_

 _ **Thanks to gaara king of the sand for the help!**_

 _ **Enjoy.**_

* * *

Clementine took a moment to process everything that had just happened. She had somehow managed to freeze time. How was it even possible? And how could she unfreeze it.

Her heart was going a mile a minute, as her mind raced with endless thoughts. It took a couple seconds for her to realize they were seconds away from crashing. She needed to get Jane and AJ out of the truck.

The girl quickly threw the door open and hopped out the vehicle. She ignored the pain from her healing wound as she rushed to the passenger's door and yanked it open. She managed to pry little AJ out of Jane's arms without a problem.

The child backed away from the vehicle looking for a safe spot to put the infant while she helped Jane. She walked a couple feet away from the truck and placed AJ down. She removed her own coat and wrapped the baby in it along with his blanket, hoping it would keep him warm. "I'll be right back, buddy."

With that, she rushed back to the vehicle. With some struggle she managed to pull Jane from the truck and began dragging the woman over to where AJ laid.

She winced as she continued to drag Jane to the best of her ability, all while her gunshot wound gave warning throbs. She did her best to ignore the pain, though it seemed to worse with every step.

She could feel tremors shuddering through her little body as she pushed herself, but it didn't stop her. She paused for a few seconds, bring a hand to her throbbing shoulder and to no surprise she felt blood ooze between her fingers.

Dropping her hand, she resumed dragging Jane to safety.

Halfway there, Clementine felt Jane shift in her grip.

The child didn't even have the chance to realize that time had unfroze before she heard the loud crash of the truck slamming into the tree.

AJ started wailing and Jane let out a series of swears.

Clementine could feel her head pounding from all the noise. She was glad to have gotten them out of the vehicle in time. They would have surely died if she hadn't, but she felt disorient and the noise wasn't helping.

She hadn't even realized Jane had risen to her feet and was talking to her, until the woman had a hold on her hand and was pulling her away from the truck. "Come on! It might explode!"

"Explode?" Clementine repeated, looking to the truck. Her heart skipped a beat as she noticed smoke coming from the truck engine.

"Come on!"

Clementine stumbled slightly, tripping over her own feet. Jane's grip on her was the only thing keeping her from falling.

"AJ. We… have to get AJ." Clementine stammered.

"We are…" Jane was worried by the child's slurred speech, as she tugged her toward the direction AJ's cries were coming from. She knew all the noise would draw walkers.

Jane released her grip on Clementine and rushed forward to pick up the crying baby before looking over to Clementine again, "Let's…" Jane trailed off as she noticed the little girl gripping her head.

The child stumbled slightly before her knees buckled. Her vision blurred as her head pounded.

"Clem-"

Without a word the girl fell, hitting the cold ground. She lay motionless in the cold snow.

Jane immediately found herself assuming the worse as she called to the child with no response. Walker were getting closer, drawn by the noise. Jane was face was faced with a dilemma, help the girl who may have been dead… or leave her…

Clementine couldn't bring herself to say a word. She couldn't move as she heard the walkers or speak. She could only lay still as her little body slowly faded from consciousness.

* * *

The child shot up with a start. The child let out a gasp and looked around the room.

Diana who was sitting nearby looked to her daughter as the child's eyes fluttered open. "Clem! Oh, thank God!"

"M-Mommy?" Clementine muttered.

"How are you feeling, baby?" Diana asked.

The girl didn't answer as she looked around the room. Suddenly her eyes widened. "AJ! I got help AJ!"

"Clem, baby, calm down. Take a deep breath." Diana said.

"I can't calm down! Jane tried to kill us!" Clementine told her mother.

Diana furrowed her brows. "Jane?"

"She… She wants to kill us!" Clementine stammered. She checked her shoulder for a wound, which she recalled had started bleed.

"You reopened your wound…" Diana sighed. "Lay down, so I can treat it."

"N-No! Clementine panicked. "I don't want to lay down…I can't sleep anymore."

"Clem, listen… Look at mommy, you just had a bad dream. You're safe now."

"Nowhere is safe, mommy…" Clementine muttered.

Diana frowned at that. "You're safe here. Mommy won't let anyone hurt you."

Clementine looked away, not saying a word.

"Let… Let me get the first aid kit." Diana stood from her chair.

Clementine's eyes grew full of fear. "N-No! Don't go, mommy!"

"I have to get some bandages." Diana said.

"Pl-Please don't leave me." Clementine whimpered.

Diana felt her heart clench. She would have to calm her daughter down before she did anything else. She pulled the girl into a hug, feeling the child tense for a moment. "Shh… Mommy's here… It's okay, it was just a bad dream." Diana said, hugging the child.

Clementine shook her head. "I… It was not a dream, mommy…"

Diana continued to comfort her child who was shaken up. "Calm down, baby. Just calm down… Tell mommy what happened."

Clementine paused for a moment, feeling tears in her eyes. She didn't know how to explain what was happening, she was confused. She felt like she was bouncing back and forth between two worlds and she had no idea what was real anymore. The thought terrified the young girl.

"Talk to me, Clem. Everything's going to be okay, I promise…"

"I don't know what's happening…" Clementine whimpered.

Diana could feel the girl shaking in her embrace. "Clem…"

"I'm scared…" Clementine choked out, breaking in sobs. Diana held her closer, rocking her to sooth the girl. "I'm really scared."


End file.
